These vegan pinwheel cookies are a plant-based version of one of those old-fashioned party biscuits you rarely see nowadays. They’re actually one of the simplest biscuit recipes zhuzhed up by rolling a chocolate and vanilla layer together swiss-roll style and slicing.
The result is a swirl of sweet, lightly crunchy chocolate and vanilla shortcake. It’s a recipe that verifies the statement that ‘we eat with our eyes’ – these taste so much nicer than plain old chocolate or vanilla biscuits!
The chocolate flavour is mild, so use a darker, 70% cocoa solids chocolate for maximum effect. (The pictured cookies were made with a 35% dark chocolate.)
The quantities here will make a batch of around 24 cookies. The dough will store, well wrapped, in the fridge for several days, so you can bake them half a dozen at a time if you prefer. Be careful not to store the dough within sniffing distance of anything containing onions or garlic, of course…
vegan pinwheel cookies…
ingredients
for the chocolate layer
- 50 g dark non-dairy chocolate
- 50 g coconut oil
- 50 g light muscovado/brown sugar
- 160 g plain white/unbleached flour
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) oat or other non-dairy milk
for the vanilla layer
- 50 g coconut oil
- 50 g soft vegan margarine
- 70 g white/golden sugar
- 160 g plain white/unbleached flour
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) oat or other non-dairy milk
method
- First prepare the chocolate layer. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool.
- Soften the coconut oil then beat together with the brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the cooled melted chocolate and beat until well combined.
- Sift the flour into the mixture and fold until roughly combined.
- Add the milk and continue folding/stirring until you have a soft dough.
- Form the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the fridge.
- To prepare the vanilla dough, soften the coconut oil and then beat together with the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat a little further.
- Sift the flour into the mixture and fold until roughly combined.
- Add the milk and continue folding/stirring until you have a soft dough.
- Form this into a ball, too, and place it, covered, in the fridge.
- Once the dough has firmed up a little, place a sheet of clingfilm on a board and roll the vanilla dough onto the film to form a rectangle somewhere in the region of 15 cm wide x 25 cm long.
- Lift the dough, on the clingfilm, off the board and set aside.
- Flour the board (or dust it with icing sugar if you prefer) and roll the chocolate dough to roughly the same size. Lift the chocolate layer and place it on the vanilla layer. It won’t matter if it cracks or tears a bit, just do your best to transfer it in a single piece.
- Roll the double layer of dough just a little to make sure it is firmly joined, then trim the edges to create a neat(ish) rectangle.
- Roll the dough swiss-roll style along the long edge to produce a log roughly 25 cm long. Lift the edge of the clingfilm and use it to help you roll the dough. Try to ensure it’s tightly rolled. Wrap the clingfilm around the log and, ideally, transfer it to the fridge to cool and firm up a bit further.
- You can also roll the off-cuts into a mini-log to produce interesting-looking piebald cookies, incidentally!
- Whenever you are ready to bake the cookies, set the oven to 180°C/360°F and line enough trays for around 24 cookies.
- Unwrap the dough and use a sharp, flat knife to slice rounds approximately 1 cm wide.
- Place these on the tray, allowing a little space for them to expand, and bake for up to 15 minutes, when they are starting to turn golden at the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely and crisp up before eating, or transfer them to an airtight tin to store.
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