It's never too late for Sugar Cookies!

I think food is one of the best ways to connect you to another culture. The process of buying the ingredients, toasting the spices or salting the cabbage brings you closer to how another culture works and acts. The 7 buying and learning excites me and makes me want to explore the ideas behind what I’m making and what it means for that culture. We are always moving and growing and globalization is always on the rise, whether it be for bad or good intentions but the continuing access we get through blogging, television or music creates this sense of closeness that we didn't have before.

 As a vegan, I am always searching for new recipes and exploring new flavors to get out the monotonous rut that becomes salads and veggie burgers and I find myself fortunate to be in a position where I am seeking out these new things because it brings me closer to something or someone I've yet to know or explore. If you haven’t yet tried Korean or Indian or Thai food or any food besides your normal fare, I suggest you go out there and find it and try it and then try and find out what it means. It’s never too late to open your mind to something besides the life you live and the people you know.

I took a little trip to flushing in NYC today and it’s a perfect example of going out and trying something new. I love exploring all the supermarkets and seeing these ingredients I’m not familiar with but hope to know very soon! Don’t be too surprised if you see some more international themed recipes on here in the near future!

After that little tidbit of musing, onto the sugar cookies!

Vegan Sugar Cookies

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour (I like to add this to most of the recipes I post but you can use regular flour instead)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegan butter
• 1 flaxseed egg (1 tablespoon flaxseed powder + 3 tablespoons warm water, I suggest doing this in advance because you need it to thicken before you can use it in the recipe)
• 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 375° F.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flaxseed powder and water and set aside to thicken.

Sift all of your dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in your flaxseed egg and vanilla. If you’re using a hand mixer, I suggest switching to a wooden spoon or a spatula before adding in your dry ingredients as the dough will start to form a ball and make it difficult to continue to mix.

Slowly add in your dry ingredients a cup to a cup and a half at a time until everything is well incorporated. If you find it too hard to mix, try adding a tablespoon of water as necessary.

Cover your dough in plastic wrap and chill for an hour to two hours.

After chilling, sprinkle some powdered sugar or extra flour and roll out your dough until ¼” thick. If you’re using cookie cutters, make sure to flour them so the cookies will come out easier.

Bake the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-9 minutes or until the edges start to turn a golden brown and let cool for two minutes on a cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.