Well, well, well… if it isn’t Easter sneaking up on all 7 billion of us. Between, well… everything going on right now, it’s no surprise it kinda slipped our minds this year. While gathering with our typical Easter crew, throwing on pastels and showing up late to Church (wait, that’s just me?) may be out of the question this year, all is not lost on the Easter egg front. Enter: my vegan peanut butter cookies topped with vegan chocolate buttercream, topped with more cookie. No cookie-cutter required.
THE INSPIRATION
If you’ve ever sunk your teeth into a peanut butter Reese’s egg, you KNOW its the quintessential chocolate treat* of Easter. When my mom used to make me Easter baskets, I would eat my jelly beans first and save my Reese’s egg for last. Kind of like a second dessert. Or dessert’s dessert, you could say. Since going to the store to hunt for peanut butter chocolate eggs isn’t really on my list this year, I wanted to put a healthy cookie spin on the classic Easter treat with some pantry staples.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
Vegan butter (I swear by Miyokos) and coconut sugar (or cane if you’ve got it) are mixed together until you’ve got something fluffy going, and then almond flour, all-purpose flour, corn starch, chickpea liquid, baking soda, vanilla and a wee bit of almond milk and peanut butter join the party. Roll it flat and cut the egg shapes with a butter knife, then stencil more egg shapes with your knife and cut out the center to form the outlines on the left (don’t worry if its not perfect), and you’ve got yourself vegan PB Easter Egg cookies.
THE ICING ON TOP… COULD NOT BE EASIER
Mixing more vegan butter, cocoa, vanilla and a pinch of salt is really all it takes.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Trust me, this is not the kind of recipe you can Pinterest fail. And this is coming from a very seasoned Pinterest perfectionist. Once the cookies are completely cooled, you simply frost the eggs with your knife and layer your egg cutouts on top.
These cookies can either taste like a crisp shortbread cookie or a fluffy Lofthouse cookie depending on how long you bake them (the difference between 8-10 minutes of baking is huge here), and the buttercream center can be dialed up or down in sweetness and chocolatey-ness (officially making that a word) to your liking. Best part of all? It’s kind of like two cookies in one, which is always a fantastic thing.
*some would argue Cadbury eggs are the quintessential chocolate of Easter but I would kindly and strongly disagree.
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Egg Cookies
It's a Reese's chocolate peanut butter egg in a healthy-ish, vegan cookie form.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1/2 cup vegan butter preferably Miyokos
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp chickpea brine (reserved in can of chickpeas)
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2/3 cup almond flour
- 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1/3 cup vegan butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two baking pans with spray oil (I used coconut spray oil)
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Add 1/2 cup vegan butter to mixing bowl and mix at medium speed until thick and fluffy- about 4 minutes.
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Add coconut sugar to bowl and continue to mix for 1-2 minutes. Next, add remaining liquid ingredients (chickpea brine, almond milk and vanilla) and continue to mix on medium, about 1 minute.
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Add remaining dry ingredients to mixing bowl and continue mixing until smooth, being careful to not over mix.
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Add your peanut butter and mix on low until just combined, refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
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While dough chills, add remaining 1/2 cup of vegan butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix on medium until thick and fluffy. Taste and add more powdered sugar and/or cocoa powder to taste. Let stand or refrigerate if its warm in your home.
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When dough is chilled, roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and use butter knife to cut out 15 egg shapes, about 3 inches tall and two inches wide (don't worry about them being perfect!) Gently lift each egg with a fork and transfer to baking sheets, placing about one inch apart.
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Bake the eggs at 350 for 8-10 minutes (8 for a soft Lofthouse style cookie, 10 for a shortbread style)
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While the eggs bake, re-roll out remaining dough, and make egg cutouts: start by cutting out same shapes as before, then cutting out an egg-shaped hole in the middle, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Do this 15 more times or until you run out of dough
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When the egg cookies are done baking, transfer to a wire cooling rack. Re-spray the baking pans, gently transfer egg cutouts to tray (you can reattach if they break a little) and bake for 5 minutes.
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Gently transfer egg cutouts to a cooling rack and allow cookies to completely cool
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Frost your egg cookies with a butter knife and top with egg cutouts. Enjoy with a cold glass of almond milk!