These fudgy-but-fat-free cookies have three
chocolate enhancers: cinnamon, prunes, and balsamic vinegar. You probably won't
be able to detect any of them in the finished product, but they lend the cookies
a deeper, more chocolaty taste.
1 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch cinnamon (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
2/3 cup demerara sugar (or other vegan sugar)
1/2 cup prune puree (see note)
1/3 cup soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (see note #2)
about 1 tablespoon of Vanilla
sugar (I did this the quick way by pulverizing a vanilla bean with sugar in
my blender)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or a
silicone baking mat.
Mix the flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt together and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the prune puree with the sugar and cocoa and
stir to combine. Add the soy yogurt, vanilla extract, and balsamic and stir
until mixed. Finally, add the flour mixture and stir just until it's
combined—don't over-mix.
Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop tablespoons of the dough onto the
baking sheets about 1 1/2-inches apart. Using the back of a spoon, flatten each
cookie slightly and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Place them in the oven. Bake
for about 9 to 11 minutes—be careful not to burn the bottoms!
Remove from the oven and transfer onto cooling racks. Allow to cool completely.
These taste best cold and somehow even better the next day. Makes about 2 dozen
cookies.
Note: I made prune puree simply by buying canned prunes and pureeing them in the
blender. You can also buy a fat substitute, Wonderslim, which is essentially
pureed prunes (or so I've heard), but it costs more and doesn't work any better.
I've also heard of people using jars of babyfood prunes, but blending my own
always made more sense to me. (Caution: don't use dried prunes!)
Note #2: I used regular (i.e. cheap) balsamic vinegar, but I'm sure you'd get
more effect if you follow Danielle's
instructions to make reduced balsamic.
Per cookie: 59 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat;
(4% calories from fat); 1 g Protein; 14 g Carbohydrate; 0 mg Cholesterol; 52 mg
Sodium; 1 g Fiber