Zero Waste Vegan Cookies
I'm not vegan, but when I was in my local sustainable living store, Wild Not Waste, I bought the Nom Nom Not Dairy cookie mix on a whim. You just scoop out however much mixture you want from the jar or grab a pre-weighed bag from the shelf. I grabbed a 400g bag, which makes eight cookies. They're so easy to make, and super mess free. All you need to add is water and your butter/butter substitute - I used olive oil spread.
On the Nom Nom Not Dairy website they have a recipe calculator. You just enter in how much mixture you have, and they tell you how much water and butter you need. For 400g of mixture I used 64g of butter and 40g of water.
All you have to do is mix the ingredients together - I started with a wooden spoon and then went in with my hands to bring the dough together. It only took a minute or two. This recipe is fantastically quick and hardly makes any mess or washing up.
If you've got a free hour and love to bake or want an excuse to invite your friends over this is the perfect activity! I like to try new things with my friends, so once I got my ingredients together I Face-Timed my best friend Bec, and got started.
It's a thick and slightly sticky dough, but don't be afraid to get your hands stuck in!
Make sure to have your oven preheated to 200 degrees, and have a baking tray set out with some parchment paper.
Something on my Sustainable To Buy list are reusable silicone baking mats. They're completely non-stick and perfect for baking things like cookies, pastries, pizzas and more. I'll be hunting for some good ones once I've finished my current roll of baking paper.
You use the silicone mats exactly like paper, then once you've finished cooking you just wash it up with the rest of your kitchen bits and bobs. I used to work in the bakery of a supermarket and used them for everything - the non-stick power is insane, and things lift off so much easier than on paper.
Once your mixture is together you just divide the dough into eight, ball them up in your hands, and space them on the tray. Next time I think I'll try and make ten instead of eight, as I prefer slightly smaller cookies. It also means they'd last longer!
Pop them in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes depending on how you like them. If you like a gooey, warm, Dominoes style cookie leave them for fifteen. I did mine for twenty so they'd be a bit more solid, and they came out perfect. Be careful not to over bake them, as an extra minute or two can lead the bottoms to burn!
I'm super impressed with how they turned out. They not only look great, but taste amazing too - I've had three since yesterday... just to be sure! They're definitely a thicker cookie as opposed to a flatter Gregg's style one, but I'm sure if you made discs instead of balls before you put them in the oven they'll come out flatter.
I'm not a vegan for a few reasons but I don't turn my nose up at vegan foods. I was once vegan (before it was cool) nearly a decade ago - it just wasn't the lifestyle for me. Back then we didn't have all these amazing and delicious options, it was all lentils and DIY, and I won't lie it was awful, I basically lived off ready salted crisps and couscous. These were the days before vegan restaurant options, where if you wanted to eat out with your friends all you could have was a side of chips.
So, I hope you modern vegans count yourself lucky, and take advantage of the wonderful options you have available, such as Nom Nom Not Dairy's baking mixes. In Lancaster at Wild Not Waste (by the bus station) you can also find their brownie mix, which I'm looking forward to trying soon!
Bye for now,
Cara.
