Vegan Lemon and Poppy Seed Cookies
The combination of lemon and poppy seeds is certainly one of my favorites (see our recipe for vegan lemon and poppy seed cake and therefore I also wanted to try some matching Christmas cookies. I've baked lemon pretzel cookies a few times, but most of the recipes turn out too soft for my taste and so the pretzels spread in the oven so much that you can't even recognize the shape anymore.
After some test baking I ended up with this recipe. The dough turns out firm enough to be formed into pretzels, bakes well in the oven and the coconut sugar even gives the cookies this pretzel-brownish color. If you don't have, it, you can still replace it with regular white sugar which only has an influence on the color.
Vegan Lemon and Poppy Seed Cookies
approx. 20 pieces
40 minutes (+ 30 minutes resting time)
Ingredients
- 175 g (1.5 cup) flour
- 75 g (0.33 cup) coconut sugar
- 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp poppy seeds
- 0.25 tsp salt
- 150 g (1.33 stick) cold vegan butter
- 150 g (1.25 cup) confectioner's sugar
- poppy seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Add sugar, salt, poppy seeds and the zest of a lemon to a bowl and stir to combine. Add diced, cold, vegan butter and start incorporating with your hands. Add flour and knead until a smooth dough forms.
- Roll the dough into a log and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for approx. 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F. Cut the cooled dough in approx. 20 slices and start rolling them into a thin ropes. Take the ends of each and form into a pretzel by first making a circle, then overlap the ends.
- Transfer the cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for approx. 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cook out completely.
- In the meantime, combine confectioner's sugar and as much lemon juice as needed until a thick icing forms. Glaze the cookies and finish with a sprinkle of poppy seeds.
