These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form!
Whilst I am not a religious person, I do enjoy Easter. Probably because of the copious amounts of chocolate involved! It doesn't have to be all about chocolate though. There are homemade vegan hot cross buns, No Knead Hot Cross Buns and now there are Hot Cross Cookies too!
Ideas for recipes spring up when I am least expecting them. I woke up on Saturday morning with no clue that these little beauties would materialize. Then, while cleaning my bedroom they suddenly popped into my head. I have no idea where the idea came from but the cleaning was abandoned and I ended up in the kitchen creating these Hot Cross Cookies.
My Hot Cross Cookies are incredibly flavourful and spiced to absolute perfection. They are soft, flecked with chewy raisins and crunchy walnuts then topped with delicious vanilla flavoured white crosses. Hot cross buns in cookie form! How cool is that?
They are great for gifting this Easter. Your friends and family will welcome a sweet treat that doesn't involve chocolate. They are also really easy to make (no mixer needed) so great as an Easter activity for children. If nut allergies are an issue then the nuts can be omitted without affecting the recipe at all.
I hope you all have a very happy Easter!
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Hot Cross Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 145g / 1.25 cups spelt flour (wholewheat can be used as an alternative but spelt gives the best result)
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 75g / 1/2 cup coconut sugar (any brown sugar can be used if you don't have coconut)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
- 75g / 1/2 cup raisins
- 30g / 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional but adds great texture)
- 5 tablespoons oil (I used mild olive oil but coconut oil (melted) or any other mild tasting oil is fine)
- About 120mls / 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
For the crosses
- 1 tablespoon of aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)(see recipe note for alternative)
- 95g / 3/4 cup natural powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put all the dry ingredients, including fruit and nuts, into a mixing bowl .
- Add the oil and as much milk as you need to make a thick cookie dough (half a cup max) then stirring to combine everything. Make sure you can't see any dry bits of flour and you scrape the bottom of the bowl well.
- Drop mixture onto the cookie sheet. I use an ice-cream scoop. Leave plenty of room round each one.
- Flatten the tops of each cookie with the back of a fork.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes. When ready they will be hardening up round the edges but slightly soft on the inside when you press with your finger. They will continue to firm up when you remove them from the oven.
- Leave to cool on the tray.
- When completely cool prepare the frosting.
- Add the aquafaba to a small bowl and whisk until just starting to go thicker and foamy. I used an hand whisk. It's difficult as there is such a small amount but just tip the bowl slightly to the side. With an electric hand whisk it will take 30 seconds tops. By hand slightly longer.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir with a spoon a little bit so it's not so dusty then whisk again for about two minutes until very thick.
- Use a piping bag and a nozzle with a very small opening to pipe cross shapes across the top of each cookie.The crosses will dry hard within a few minutes.
NOTES
NUTRITION
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Debbie Gaudet says
Mel, these are so easy and delicious! My dough was quite soft and runny. I always weigh my ingredients. Type of spelt flour? Nonetheless, they were so good and I'll definitely add them to my cookie rotation.
A Virtual Vegan says
This is a really, really old recipe from back when this was just a little hobby and no-one knew my blog existed. I will remake them later and check the liquid measurement. If you make them again before that though, just add as much milk as you need to get a thick cookie dough. Glad you enjoyed them regardless though!
Pongodhall says
Oh just yummy thank you.
Can't do yeast and biscuits a brilliant plan.
Am going to try oat flour as I can't do spelt. I wondered if lentil flour or combination if lentil/chickpea or Kat somehow would work out..... what do you think?
A Virtual Vegan says
I think oat flour would probably be best, or a gluten-free blend, although I haven't tried it myself so can't guarantee. I find that chickpea flour lends a distinctive taste which probably wouldn't be great in these, and I've never tried lentil flour. Good luck!
Pongodhall says
Thanks for help there! Quite ok with Kat flour funnily enough. And I do love hot cross buns you know.
Sean says
Another awesome aquafaba miracle! :) I'm continually impressed by that weird, wonderful ingredient. These cookies look really amazing, and I love the simple but bold hot-cross icing.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Sean. I don't know what us vegans did before aquafaba was discovered! It's like magic!
Justine @ JustineCelina.com says
Wow, that a unique and delicious sounding ideas! So innovative. I love it! :)
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Justine :O)