Vegan Christmas Cookies

Walking by a Christmas tree lot, or through an evergreen forest, you’re greeted with whiffs of sharp, sweet and refreshing spruce or pine. The smell evokes the feeling of warm fires, vanilla, cinnamon, hot chocolate, cold rosy cheeks- basically, the feeling of Christmas. These vegan cookies are the delight of this Christmas!

Ingredients

▢For spruce infused butter (separated between frosting and cookies)

▢1 cup of spruce needles, rinsed, and removed from the branches

▢1 ½ sticks of unsalted vegan butter (3/4 cup), plus a tablespoon or two extra in case of evaporation

For cookies
▢½ cup of spruce infused butter (see above)
▢¼ cup brown sugar
▢½ cup white sugar
▢1 tsp. vanilla extract
▢2 cups all-purpose flour
▢1 tsp. baking powder
▢Pinch of salt
▢2 tbsp. soymilk, or more as needed

For buttercream
▢¼ cup of spruce infused butter, solid (see above)
▢1 ½ cup icing sugar
▢2 tsp. soymilk, or more as needed
▢Green food coloring (optional)

Instructions
Infuse the vegan butter by placing the spruce needles in a microwave-safe dish, adding the vegan butter on top, and microwaving for 30 seconds at a time until it is completely melted and just starting to bubble. Remove from the microwave, and muddle with a spoon. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, or longer if possible. Remove the spruce needles by re-melting the butter and running through a fine sieve. If a lot of your butter is evaporated/stuck to the needles, add a little more un-infused butter so you have ¾ of a cup. Separate to ½ cup for the cookies, and ¼ cup for the frosting, and place the ¼ cup in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). To start on the cookies, combine the ½ cup infused butter, brown and white sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Stir well before adding the flour, baking powder sand salt. Slowly add soymilk, using your hands to combine until it is smooth and not to crumbly (you should need about 2 tbsp. of milk).
Prepare a baking tray by lining it with a silicone mat. On a clean, floured surface, roll out your cookie dough until it is about ¼ inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your cookies (you could also use a jar lid, a knife, or whatever you have around) and place on the baking sheet with at least a 1/2 inch between them. Take the scraps of dough that were not used in the cookies, and re-roll and cut, continuing until you’ve used most of the dough. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, let cool for a minute or two before shifting to a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, allow your infused butter to become solid in the refrigerator. Place it in an electric mixer and beat, adding a pinch of salt (omit if your vegan butter is salted), and powdered sugar half a cup at a time. Once all the sugar is incorporated, add two tsp. of soymilk and beat. Finally, add food coloring if desired- my cookies used 5 drops of green, but white frosted trees are also stunning if you’re not food-color inclined.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, use a butter knife to spread a layer of vegan spruce buttercream over each cookie. Decorate as desired, and serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Recipe from @VeryVeganVal