Two Cookies Fit for Gifts (or Cookie Jars)

The cookie on the left was a remake of a lovely Coconut Biscotti recipe from the Baking and Books blog. Except that I didn't make them into biscotti, I scooped out teaspoon-sized scoops and baked them once. They were fluffy and rich, not to mention light and tasty! However, I will bake them as biscotti soon because I just bought more coconut on sale. Yay!

The changes I made to that recipe were very small -- just agave for sugar, the baking time and style, the addition of 1/2 cup of very finely chopped dried apricots for a nice twang. Next time, I'd add even more apricots or even some great chopped dried pears.

The cookie on the right was a bit of an alteration of Veganomicon's Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies.

Here are my alterations to those delicious and very well-spiced cookies:

1. Agave nectar for the brown rice syrup and brown sugar.
2. Almond milk for the soy milk.
3. Added 1 cup of chopped pecans (so good!).
4. Added 1 cup of unsweetened carob chips.

I underbaked them a bit and would definitely do that again because it gave the cookies almost a chocolate chip cookie chewiness. My step-Dad raved, "It's one of your better efforts." Believe me, that's a rave.

Overall, I prefer the vegan cookies in this pairing, purely for the spiciness (the recipe calls for cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice) and the wonderful oaty-ness. Relatively speaking, it's not a very unhealthy recipe due to the oats, whole-wheat pastry flour and low fat content. Yet another great reason to buy Terry and Isa's book!