Holiday Maple Pecan Vegan Cookies
These maple pecan cookies are perfect for holiday gatherings. They take only twenty minutes to prepare, and are ready to eat in half an ho
ur, so if you have unexpected visitors they’re easy to make from store cupboard ingredients.
You can flex the recipe if you like. If you don’t have pecans, you can substitute walnuts for a similar appearance. If you don’t have walnuts then chopped hazelnuts or almonds will still make a good cookie.
I use brown sugar and wholewheat flour because I think they give the cookie extra nutty flavor and they add a more interesting color, but white will work just as well.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan margarine
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 and 1/2 cups wholewheat all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- 18 pecan halves
Do use real maple syrup, it does make the cookie, and you don’t need much. If you can get your hands on the really good stuff from Michigan then do, otherwise I hear Vermont and Canada produce syrup too.
Maple syrup from Michigan is divine. Buy some, thank me later. (Sorry Canada)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4
- Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl
- Put the vegan margarine (or butter) in a small saucepan
- Add the sugar and maple syrup
- Set the pan on a low heat and melt the butter, stirring all the time
- Keep stirring as the sugar dissolves into the butter, but don’t let it boil
- Once the sugar feels smooth rather than crystallized take off the heat
- Put the flour mix in the saucepan and stir quickly to combine
- Add the chopped pecans and mix all the way through
- Grease two cookie sheets
- Shape the mix into two-tablespoon sized balls, about golf ball size
- Space out on the cookie sheets – you’ll get about 16-18 balls
- Top each ball with a pecan half
- Cook for ten minutes
- Take out of the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack
- They will be ready to eat in five more minutes, but will last for three days
