VeganMoFo: Rootbeer Pinwheel Cookies!

Hoorah! I really love traveling, but I always loving coming back home again too!

So, as a final goodbye to the glory of VeganMoFo 2010, I leave you with a fun little recipe...

Rootbeer Pinwheel Cookies!

I found this the recipe for these tasty little morsels in my newspaper, of all places (*recipe at the end of this post*). Of course, I veganized, but I also de-glutenized it. I took these cookies with me when I went up to Oregon a couple of weeks ago... and I wanted to bring some to my friends Kittee & Sandy, both of whom appreciate a gluten-free treat. Plus, rootbeer is totally super duper American... I remember the look of horror and disgust on the faces of my Italian friends when they tried it. Hee hee. They don't know what they're missing!

The dough is amazing, and I found it very easy to work with (even with my de-glutenizing). You roll out two big sheets, one vanilla and one rootbeer flavored. Then you carefully set the one on top of the other and roll them up. Isn't that exciting looking? My slice is not perfectly clean, because I had to grind my own GF oat flour, and it ended up a little chunky!

Here are all the sliced babies, resting on the cookie tray, waiting to become super crunchy tasties!

Close up!

And here is the final product! They were really good! They were super crunchy, and had a great flavor. Truth be told, there wasn't a ton of rootbeer flavor, but every once in a while you got a good hit of rootbeer flavor. Next time I might add even a little more rootbeer extract! I totally loved the way they looked, and they were a great little cookie. You'll like 'em if you make 'em!

Also, thanks so much to everyone for all your super nice comments on yesterday's post. I had such a great time doing mofo this year.... and I can't believe it took me this long to think of including little cartoons in my blog. Duh! Now, I'll finally have time to go through the reader and look at everyone else's exciting posts that I didn't read during mofo!

Rootbeer Pinwheel Cookies

(Makes about 52 cookies)

Adapted from a recipe in Maida Heatter's "Book of Great Cookies" (Knopf, 1978)

Store for a few weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.

1¾ cups flour (I needed about 2 - 2 1/4 cups of my gluten free flour mix (see below))

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

1/2 c. Earth Balance

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¾ cup sugar

1 egg equivalent - I used EnerG Egg Replacer

1 1/4 tsp. root beer extract

Whisk together the flour/s, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Place the margarine in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer; beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until it is smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract and sugar; beat to incorporate, then add the egg replacer and beat to combine. Reduce the speed to low; slowly add the flour mixture and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. If it seems too soft, add in a little more flour.

Transfer half of the dough to a mixing bowl; add the root beer extract. Knead the extract into the dough until blended. The dough will look slightly marbled; that's OK.

Cut four 20-inch pieces of parchment paper. Working with one dough half at a time, place the dough between two of the sheets and pat down to form a flat disk. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a thin oblong about 14 by 17 inches. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Remove the parchment from the root beer dough. Remove the top sheet of parchment from the plain dough. Place the root beer dough on top of the plain dough so they align as closely as possible. Trim away any excess edges.

Starting with the long side facing you, roll the layered dough into a tight jellyroll, peeling it off the parchment as you go. Trim the ends of the roll neatly. Roll up the dough in the parchment paper, twisting the ends to seal the cylinder of dough.

Transfer to the freezer for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Unwrap the dough rolls from the freezer and place on a cutting board. Use a thin, sharp knife to cut the dough into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange on the baking sheets spaced 1 inch apart. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies just start to brown at the edges. (I cooked mine for about 15 minutes for extra crunch). Use a spatula to transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving or storing.

My Gluten Free Flour Mix

I adapted this from the PPK discussion boards... mostly from Isa & Kittee... It makes about 4 cups.

1 1/4 cup white rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup GF oat flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Happy Cookies to You!