Shortbread--Sweet Simple, and Naturally Vegan!

You know what's really great? Finding something you love and realizing it's already vegan. No substitutions, no changes, just plain and simple follow the recipe. The first thing Kady and I actually baked together was shortbread thumbprint cookies. You can use any old recipe, but the one we used has great ratings at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raspberry-and-almond-shortbread-thumbprints/detail.aspx

We are big believers in making do with what you have. Of course there are excepts to that rule, but generally a little change won't hurt anything. In the case of this recipe, we left out the almond extract and used vanilla instead. We also left off the icing the original recipe called for, because powdered sugar in Honduras has a strange (soap-like!) flavor. Remember, being vegan doesn't have to be difficult! ;). However, we know you can't just live off cookies, so we'll be posting more recipe and meal ideas soon. In the meantime, enjoy some cookies. All you need are these five simple ingredients:

Gather Up:

• 1 cup softened butter (that's 2 sticks)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (of 1/2 t almond extract if you prefer)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• jelly of your choice 

Put it together:

1. Turn your oven up to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, cream your butter and sugar until smooth 'n creamy. Add the vanilla, mix thoroughly. Mix in the flour. The dough will be dry--it's supposed to be! It just needs to be able to hold together in balls.
3. Roll the dough into desired sized balls, and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Put a thumbprint in each one and fill with jelly.
4. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until the bottoms start to get golden.

Let cool (if you can wait that long!) & most importantly: ENJOY!

HEY Y'ALL

Welcome to our vegan blog! I thought being a vegan was hard until I met Emily. She took me out of my box and helped me to understand that when you have the time and resources, anything can be veganised! To prove it, we're going to be making many different types of things. We'll have some new discoveries, share some old favourites and we'll even throw in some wacky things! I really hope you enjoy our blog as much as we will and don't forget-if you like it, veganise it!