VEGAN CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S VEGAN CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT THUMBPRINTS
Yield:  about 50 cookies
I made these last night-- yum!  I adapted a recipe from the Dec. 2009 Cooking Light magazine.

9 ounces unbleached white flour (about 1 cup, lightly spooned into cup)
2 cups organic powdered sugar
2/3 cup organic unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan butter, softened (try my homemade vegan palm oil-free Buttah)
2 tablespoons Ener-G or Orgran egg replacer powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso or 2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups finely chopped toasted hazelnuts
about 1/2 cup vegan hazelnut-chocolate spread (preferably palm-oil-free)
(NOTE: There's an easy homemade recipe from my book, World Vegan Feast, but the recipe is also at http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-world-vegan-feast-gianduia.html. Or, purchase a dairy-free hazelnut-chocolate spread-- there are many brands, such as Nocciolata Dairy-Free Organic Hazelnut & Cocoa Spread)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a bowl and whisk.

Place vegan butter in a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Whisk the egg replacer and the espresso powder with 1/4 cup water until frothy and add to the margarine. Add this and the vanilla to the margarine and beat well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined, then, if you are using a stand mixer, use the cookie paddle to mix it until it is smooth and shiny.

if you don’t have a cookie paddle, turn the dough out onto a sheet of baking parchment and knead the dough 6 times or until smooth and shiny. Shape dough into about 50 (1-inch) balls. Roll sides of balls in the nuts, pressing gently. Arrange the cookie balls 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Press your thumb gently into center of each cookie, leaving an indentation. Bake, 1 batch at a time, at 350° for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Spoon a scant 1/2 teaspoon of the hazelnut-chocolate spread into center of each cookie, swirling it to a peak.  Refrigerate the cookies until the spread hardens and then cover the plates.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!