The anticipation I’ve had to make these cookies has made this the longest month of my life. Yes, I have piqued friends interest when I tell them I want to have a cookie embody the uggo but cute grunge energy of Goblincore. But, because of life and the desire to have a certain queue of taste testers ready for a live reaction has delayed this. If I’m honest I’ve wanted to make these since the “Twelve Bakes of Christmas” challenge I imposed on myself (I still see drafts of the Beef Wellington I made in my to post list…but it feels a bit late now almost one year later…I digress).
Goblin Cookies? What? Why?
I lovingly call these vegan goblin cookies, even if they aren’t goblin shaped, because goblincore is a mouthful to say a bunch of times and it really resonates with the heart of goblincore. Goblincore is essentially cottagecore gone dark; plants and mushrooms and fantasy energy is welcomed. Dirt never hurt anyone and goblins as well as trolls are often misunderstood ugly cute things (or uggo cute as my friends call it). Does anyone remember that heavy ugly cute phase in the early 2000s? It feels like that but merged with grunge and cottagecore on 100.
And the Vegan Part? Why Vegan? How do you make Vegan Cookies?
Given the earthy energy of goblincore, I also figured this was the cookie to help intro to others how easy good vegan baking can be. Vegan baking overall not always easy but cookies may be the poster child for flexible baking. Cookies seldom need rise that can be harder to achieve in certain vegan-ized bakes.
One day I shall make a base cookie post one day, since I know the Brown Butter Miso (Chocolate Chip) Cookies and my texture-full Chocolate Chunk Sesame Crunchems Cookies show subtle ways of how, depending on what you want and have, there’s a lot of ways to make a cookie.
The way I’m veganizing this cookie is pretty straightforward. Dairy-free chocolate chips. Vegan eggs–in this case aquafaba but you can also use a flax egg (1 TBSP ground flax with 3 TBSP water that’s sat for at least 5 min together) for similar results–we don’t need these cookies to rise so depending on the reasons for vegan cookies, there are options to work with. Additionally, since butter is an animal product–I was between margarine (aka vegan butter) or vegetable shortening. Yes, I said margarine, yes I said shortening.
Aren’t margarine and vegetable shortening non-vegan?
Contrary to some dated beliefs, the former two items are no longer the borderline tubs of lard that come to mind for some. Ever since the demonization and finally outright ban of trans fats (thank you 2018) both of these items are plant derived with naturally/non-animal sourced stabilizers where needed, i.e. the shortening uses critic acid, commonly known as what makes citrus fruit tart, to act as an antioxidant for the product at hand. By no means am I claiming these are healthy–but likewise who calls butter healthy? In moderation, like all things, it is fine!
Also, depending on the why for a vegan cookie, a person may lean on a particular fat for baking. It could be margarine versus vegetable oil, coconut oil versus applesauce, etc. My drivers were a balance of not overpowering my “goblin flavors” and what’s easily accessible.
But what makes this a Goblin Cookie?
Okay okay I’ve danced around what is in the goblin aspect of vegan goblin cookies long enough. Drum roll please. Black Garlic! And Chocolate Chips, because what’s more fun than not knowing if you’re about to get chocolate or the tantalizing umami molasses note that black garlic gets in a cookie.
Before I completely lose some folks here–black garlic doesn’t taste like the every day fresh garlic. Yes, it is garlic, but it’s garlic that has undergone a controlled process to trigger a wonderful reaction that turns every clove black and umami sweet molasses (with some of it’s distinctive allium zing still)–the Maillard reaction. In the simplest of terms, Maillard reaction is what food undergoes when butter browns, onions caramelize, or cookies reach that golden brown hue. It’s a non-oxidized process of browning that adds layers of flavor into an otherwise unextraordinary thing.
Thankfully, those looking for black garlic, it’s most easily found in Asian markets, online, or any specialty food stores. Some places even sell it as a gift pack. As guessed, it’s popular in food, but I have a distinct memory of this being considered a medicine growing up and getting a chuckle over this being now a coveted ingredient. Clearly I’m a fan, after all food is the first medicine. Looking at you gut health!
Video Recipe
The Written Recipe
Ingredients
~12 large cookies
- 1-/2 to 1 cup vegan butter/margarine*
- 1 cup white or light brown sugar
- 1 vegan egg equivalent**
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2-4 oz black garlic, chopped (if you love molasses/garlic, you’ll be fine with 4oz, if not do 2oz)
- 4 oz dairy-free chocolate chunks (semisweet, but do what you want!)
Steps
- Cream sugar and vegan butter/margarine.
- Add vegan egg and vanilla, mix until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, and baking soda together.
- In batches, mix dry ingredients into wet bowl.
- Add in the chocolate and chopped black garlic.
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes. While chilling line baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 F.
- If making large cookies, space 2″ or about 5 cm apart as these will spread! Bake for 8-10 minutes.
*1/2 cup will provide a more firm cookie, 1 cup gives you the iconic chewy cookie, dough for chewy cookie pictured above.
**I used aquafaba, other recommendations include flax egg, chia egg, Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, etc.
Stay Hungry
XOXO
Mish ❤