This is a vegan snickerdoodle recipe for all the coffee lovers out there! These caffeinated cookies are delicious dunk-able disks that will go amazingly well with your morning cup of Joe. Flavored with strong black coffee, rolled in cocoa powder and sugar, and baked for just long enough so that they’re a perfect, cake-y consistency, these cookies are quite tasty and quite simple!
“No matter what historians claimed, BC really stood for “Before Coffee.”
– Cherise Sinclair, Master of the Mountain
Caffeine..
Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who can’t function like a decent human being without caffeine in the morning; it’s all grunts and shifty looks until I take that first slurp of coffee.
While I’m not particularly proud of my dependency to it, a zombie-like “eat brains” craving for a good cup of coffee is a rather benign vice to have, don’t you think?
In the spirit of celebrating caffeine and the antisocial morning routine involving it, I made this vegan snickerdoodle recipe. It’s the embodiment of my love of coffee.. in cookie form.
In order for the coffee flavor to come through in a pronounced way, I would recommend making a strong, and I mean really strong, cup of black coffee, like an espresso or something from an instant coffee powder. You only need about 3 tablespoons of coffee, so try to condense as much coffee flavor as you can into that small amount.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
– T.S. Elliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Defining Snickerdoodles
Technically, they’re classified as a kind of sugar cookie, but personally I think they’re much, much more.
They can be chewy, they can be crispy, they can be cakey, they can be.. well, whatever you want!
But the most defining characteristics of a snickerdoodle is the classic cinnamon-sugar coating that the cookie is rolled in before it’s baked. This gives the goodies glittery exteriors and another layer of flavor. In this recipe, I used cocoa powder instead of cinnamon. The cocoa beautifully compliments the coffee-flavor inside the cookie, without overwhelming it or betraying the original snickerdoodle identity too much.
Also, a lot of the time in snickerdoodle recipes, they’ll be an inclusion of cream of tartar. This fluffy white powder helps the cookie take on a certain cakey-ness, along with a very subtle sourness – take a look at my Vegan Breakfast Scone for more information about cream of tarter in a different context.
Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all.
– David Lynch
Pound Key.. or.. Hashtag
Last point I want to make is about the design of a snickerdoodle.
I somehow convinced myself that all snickerdoodles must have a signature pound key (#) indent on their face (pound key is what the kids call a hashtag nowadays), made by pressing a fork in two opposite directions right before you bake them. However, while researching about it, I discovered this particular feature appears to be more of a stylistic choice.
If you don’t decide to use this fork technique to indent your cookie, be sure to press them down a little bit with your hand instead, so that they bake through and more evenly overall.
Coffee is a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your older self.
– Terry Pratchett, Thud
Just Make This Vegan Snickerdoodle Recipe!
Honestly, this vegan snickerdoodle recipe has yielded some of my favorite vegan cookies yet, mostly because they’re coffee-flavored, but also because they take less than 30 minutes.
So get to baking.. and, er..brewing!
Espresso Snickerdoodles
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons strong black coffee, heated for 30 seconds in microwave
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- ½ cup vegan butter, like Earth Balance, melted or room temp
- ½ cup sugar, white or brown
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 – 1 ½ teaspoon(s) cocoa powder
- Couple teaspoons sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F, and prepare a baking sheet with silicon or parchment paper.
- Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
- Next, heat the 3 tablespoons of black coffee in the microwave, adding the flaxseed afterwards, and then stir until congealed. After that, add the coffee mixture to the vegan butter, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Whisk well, until everything is incorporated and no chunks of anything remain.
- Combine the dry ingredients in the medium bowl with wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl, and fold them together until everything is incorporated and no flour remains.
- On a plate, combine the cocoa powder and couple teaspoons of sugar. Roll the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls and then roll the balls in the powder mixture. Then, place the cookies on a baking sheet, flattening twice with a fork in a cross indent pattern, and bake for 9 – 10 minutes, until the cookies are firm.
Video
Nutrition
Did you enjoy this vegan snickerdoodle recipe? If so, leave me a comment and recipe rating before you go!
Also, check out these classic yet vegan Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies, too.
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
These are so good! And a hit with my friends who had no idea they were vegan. Especially delicious with coffee, or cocoa, or golden milk.
Sounds delicious 😋
Thank you! 😀