The Plant-Based Momma

Vegan and plant-based recipes

Archives for December 2019

Christmas Snowball Cookies

Russian tea cookies, Mexican wedding cookies–or as my kids like to call them snowballs! Whatever you want to call them, they are a simple yet crowd favorite cookie around the holidays!

There are plenty of variations on these cookies, so feel free to use as much creative license on these as you would like. My family likes almond flavored cookies, so that’s the direction we take with these. They are perfect for a quick, last minute cookie to pop in the oven before Santa arrives.😉

 

Print

Christmas Snowball Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
  • ½ cup powdered Sugar
  • ¾ tsp vanilla Extract
  • ¼ tsp almond Extract
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 400°F

  2. In large bowl mix Earth Balance Butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extract with wooden/rubber spatula.

  3. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough is formed.

  4. Shape dough into 1 inch balls, place on ungreased cookie sheet (dough will not expand--as you want cute little snowballs for this cookie!)

  5. Bake 10-12 minutes until firm. Be careful not to let the cookies brown on top, otherwise they will be too crispy!

  6. Roll warm cookies in a bowl of powdered sugar (I used two spoons to hold the cookie, while rolling in a bowl of powdered sugar) then cool on wire rack. Once cooled, roll in powdered sugar once more.

  7. Enjoy!

 

Vegan at Ladurée, Beverly Hills

Since National Pastry Day was this week, I couldn’t let a trip to the infamous Ladurée Bakery in Beverly Hills go down without sharing all of the details on here! I am so impressed with this restaurant and their progression absolutely feels worth documenting. 

If you haven’t already heard, the beloved French eatery recently did a major revamp on its entire menu (thanks to Chef Matthew Kenney) into a divinely plant-based experience—literally an unexpected vegan dream come true.✨ 

You can see their amazing plant-based menu here. We were in town for another event, so we loaded up on macarons and pastries to go, but we will definitely be back to try some of the delectable dishes from their menu. Take a look at these gorgeous treats:

Dreamy vegan macarons – my personal favorites were Rose, Salted Caramel and Vanilla. Although they were all amazing.  ✨

Give me ALL the croissants : Traditional, rose and chocolate. Why are vegans so deprived of these? How do they make them so light and fluffy? And why can’t the rest of the world make them vegan croissants like this!?

Ispahan — a raspberry macaron filled with the most decadent rose petal cream, fresh raspberry and lychee. Our Omni family who adored their macarons and the Ispahan prior to the plant-based switch could not tell the difference 

We were SO happily loaded up with light and fluffy chocolate croissants, rose croissants and beautiful, creamy chocolate pastries. I’ve said it before, but seeing what the very talented Chef at Ladurée has done shows that anything can be veganized —and you aren’t missing out on anything at all. Although the secret to their croissants remains vaulted (we had to ask😜), The future is absolutely looking vegan. Ladurée in Beverly Hills is a  must-try, highly recommended place to visit. 

 

These two cute guys

(not dressed for tea time–but a

playdate with friends!😜)

loved everything!