It’s hot. It’s sunny. The leaves are still hanging onto the trees, for the most part. But damnit it’s fall (or even winter?) and I won’t let a little summery weather get in the way of the enormous number of autumn-themed recipes I’ve been dying to make!

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been adding a lot of vegan recipes; I’m working on transitioning from my current 90% vegan habits (I eat vegan when feeding myself, and will have dairy when making food for other people or eating out) to a number closer to 100%. Which will be much easier once I’ve got a good book of vegan recipes at my disposal that I’ve come up with, or at least tested.

So, I’ve been in a bit of a vegan testing frenzy lately! One of my latest creations is vegan gingerbread cookies, which I modified from this recipe. As usual, I also modified it to have much less fat than the original. Despite my nervousness that they might taste too healthy, my picky, non-vegan friends gave rave reviews of both their flavor and texture.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup applesauce

1/6 cup vegetable oil (or 1.5 Tbs)

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup soymilk

3/4 to 1 cup vegan sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients but sugar into a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl combine the wet ingredients and the sugar, and whisk until blended. Stir in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Warning: the dough will be sticky! Roll into balls (about 1 tablespoon’s worth) and flatten out with a fork or your fingers. Press the coarse sugar onto the tops of the cookies and bake about 10 minutes at 350 on a greased cookie sheet. Allow to cool for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy the fall-flavored goodness!

Michelle