(Surprise) Strawberry Pancake Cookies

The–well, at least my–natural response to a tweet or a blog post missive akin to “I just don’t know what I’m going to do with all of these cakes/cookies/free bags of expensive food that were sent to me because I receive 800 comments on my blog each week” is:

I’ll be happy to take those off your hands for you. * 

Never did I expect to actually receive something in the mail.

 

But Papa Smart came through and forwarded the package to me…where I wasted no time ripping it open with my bare hands.*
*Hey, I was hungry. And I was surprised to be receiving a package from Papa Smart.

 

I cannot even begin to tell y’all how much I loved these (vegan) Cherry Almond Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Seriously. Not only were they beautiful…they were the perfect balance of sweetness, nuttiness, and tartness (from the dried cherries). They were  all at once chock full of flavor, soft, and slightly crispy, and I wasted no time in consuming a rather excessive amount of them. [All but perhaps one or two snagged by my roommate.]

I, of course, needed the recipe. [Lauren happily obliged, but after I had already scoured the internet* to discover that someone had already posted the recipe--probably illegally, so I won't link to it here.^]
*Read: googled ‘cherry almond vegan cookies invade’ and finding it rather quickly
^Not that I didn’t just tell you how to find it.

And, I also had to make them. But, of course, this was the “Hi, my name is Miss Smart and I’m a rather lazy baker who doesn’t make sure she has everything she needs before baking” version.

Instead of cherries, I had wanted to use leftover blueberries, but underestimated how many I still had from my Blueberry Pancake Peanut Butter, so I used dried strawberries instead.  [A little sweeter than I intended? Yes. (Sigh.)]

Parchment paper? Clearly cooking spray will be fine. Whole wheat pastry flavor filled in for half of the all-purpose flour…and then I accidentally used maple extract instead of almond, so they tasted a little bit like strawberry pancakes.*
*Good or bad thing? You decide. People like those…right?

As per usual, I undercooked them…and my lack of a cooling rack resulted in some slightly sunken cookies. [At least they have great personalities.]

And yet, I polished off three of them in rapid succession…so I guess it’s not a complete failure after all. In fact, I’m pretty happy I have a faculty room to put them into tomorrow.

1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp. ground flax seed
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup dried strawberries (not freeze-dried)
3/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with baking spray.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine oil, sugars, flax, and extracts. Whisk rapidly with a fork until smooth.
3. Mix in flours, baking soda, and salt.
4. When flours are almost completely incorporated, stir in strawberries and almonds.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes (or, if you are me…9), until edges and bottoms are slightly browned.
6. Allow to cool on the baking sheet before cooling on a cooling rack. [Unless you don't have one...]

 

*I was not paid to endorse this….except for in cookies.