Remember in the 1978 movie Superman with Christopher Reeve when Superman is flying around and he sees a young girl trying to get her cat out of a tree? Do remember that part? Well, he gets the cat out of the tree, hands it to the girl, and flies off. The girl then runs into her townhouse and excitedly tells her mother what has just happened. The craziest part is that the mother says, “Haven’t I told you not to tell lies?!”, and then you hear a slap. She hit her daughter. I assume this scene was for comic effect, but… crazy. That totally wouldn’t fly (no pun intended) with today’s audiences. There’d be a difference of opinion as to what the girl actually saw, probably a call to the daughter’s therapist, and then they’d hug it out. By the way, I’m aware of how strange it is that I’ve started this blog with Superman, but my youngest Wesley is obsessed with the movie, so it’s been on my mind. The good news is he seems to eat more while he watches it. Since he is underweight I am fine with him watching it as much as he wants. Shifting gears here, I made vegan vanilla bean shortbread using coconut oil and it was delicious! It is light, sweet, flaky, and studded with tiny vanilla beans. I wasn’t planning on posting another shortbread recipe so soon after this one, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ve made these cookies four times in the last week. I’ve also watched Superman about 12 times. Since Saturday.
I got this recipe from an amazing vegan blog called Wing It Vegan. I’ve adapted it slightly, but the original recipe is extremely good, so you should check it out. One more thing before we get started, I used vanilla bean paste, which gave the cookie a nice, deep vanilla flavor, and a speckled look. If you don’t have any on hand vanilla extract will work just as well. You can find vanilla bean paste here.
Okay, let’s do this thing! First, using a hand held mixer, mix the coconut oil until smooth.
Add sugar, vanilla bean paste, and 2 tablespoons of water, and mix until combined.
Mix in the flour and salt.
Press dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
When ready to cut out, press and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a round cookie cutter, or biscuit cutter, cut out circular shapes and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle each cookie with coarse salt and decorative, sparkling sugar. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, or until each cookie begins to turn golden brown around the edge.
Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!
- 1/2 cup (112 g) refined Coconut Oil, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50 g) Granulated Sugar
- 2 tsp. Vanilla Bean Paste, or Vanilla Extract
- 2 TBS Water
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/8 tsp. Salt
- Coarse Salt for sprinkling
- Decorative Sugar for sprinkling
- In a large bowl, and using a hand-held mixer, mix the coconut oil until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla bean paste, and water and mix until combined.
- Stir in the flour and salt until the dough thickens, and all of the ingredients are combined. If the dough seems too dry add a teaspoon of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Form the dough into a disk, and wrap up with plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Allow the chilled dough to rest on the counter for about 10 minutes to soften. On a lightly floured surface, press and roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. It's a sticky dough, so rolling out might be a little tough. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter, cut out your circles and place on a baking sheet. A dough scraper or thin spatula can help remove the cookies from the counter.
- Lightly sprinkle each cookie with coarse salt and as much as you want of decorative sugar.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies turn a golden brown around the edge. Cool on wire rack before eating. Enjoy!
- Hand held mixer
- Large baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Dough scraper
- 2-inch biscuit cutter, or round cookie cutter
