Valentine's Day Vegan Gluten Free Cookies

These biscuits are not only adorable and make the perfect Valentine's Day treat, they're also Vegan and Gluten Free and as an added bonus, incredibly easy to make.

Makes: approx 28 cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup non-dairy butter, eg Nutelex, at room temperature OR coconut oil, softened

• 1/3 cup maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of your choice)

• 2 1/4 cups gluten-free flour (or a combination of: 1 cup brown rice flour, 3/4 cup tapioca starch, 1/2 cup sweet rice flour, 1/2 tsp guar gum)

• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

• dash of salt

Icing Ingredients:

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 3 tbsp non-dairy milk (I love almond milk)

• 2 tbsp maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)

• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract

• ¼ tsp almond extract

• Food colouring of your choice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C, and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and whip with a mixer until it’s light & creamy. Add sweetener, salt, and vanilla and mix again to combine.

3. Add flour and fold together with a wooden spoon. Then get your hands in there and mix everything together by working the dough until you can shape it into a ball (the consistency of the dough should not be sticky but should press together when pinched, if it’s a little sticky after kneading it, add a little more flour (try 1-2 tbsp); if it’s a little dry add a little more sweetener (try 1 tbsp)).

4. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to no more than 1cm thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your cookies. Carefully transfer to the prepared baking tray, spacing them a couple of centimetres apart, although they won’t spread much as they bake. Gather up any dough scraps and repeat until all dough is used up.

5. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 11-12 minutes, until the edges begin to become a little golden. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cookies will harden a little within minutes of cooling, so don’t overbake. Allow the cookies to cool completely before icing.

6. To make the icing, place all ingredients, except food coloring, into a medium-sized mixing bowl and mix thoroughly to combine. Gradually add in food coloring until you reach a color you’re satisfied with. You can either dip cookies into the icing, or use a piping bag with a small nozzle to decorate, by piping the outline first, then filling in the middle. Sprinkle with edible glitter if you're needing them to be a little more special. Place onto a wire rack and allow to sit for at least a few hours for the icing to set.

Enjoy!

The Enchantress