Cookies made with liquid oil, please help

[Acorn]

I used to love Christmas baking. Lately it has just been depressing, no butter, no partially hydrogenated oils, no coconut or palm oil. I hate wasting time and ingredients to end up with subpar results. In the past, I've used earth balance margarine but I'm not thrilled with the palm fruit oil or the taste.

 

I do use a recipe for cut out gingerbread that uses canola oil. I'd like to find one for sour cream cut out cookies.

 

I've tried merengue drops but they were too sticky, humidity problems?

 

I have made olive oil choc chips that were okay, but I was hoping for more special holiday types.

 

Please help me save our holidays.

[craftymama]

We make a recipe we call "mint balls" that uses oil.  They are my favorite.  You have to like mint though.  Can you not have butter, or are you just trying to avoid it?

 

[craftymama]

I also have a vegan double chocolate chip recipe.  It don't really think of it as "Christmas" but it doesn't use butter.  I don't make it vegan anymore, but it's easy enough to keep it vegan - use soy milk and non-dairy chocolate chips.

 

[Acorn]

We love mint, could you please share your recipe?

 

Our family has an almost unbelievable history of heart disease.

[Junie]

I don't have any recipes (I hate to bake, and I have a wheat allergy);

 

however, I wanted to let you know that I have successfully substituted oil in waffles which might work in cookies.  (Like I said, I'm not a baker.)

 

I use baby food or apple sauce instead of canola oil to make the waffles (or whatever) healthier.  My kids thought that their waffles were a little bit orange -- they didn't know that they were made with baby food sweet potatoes.  (Yay Vitamin A!)

 

You might not have time to experiment before Christmas, but you may want to try it sometime because of the heart disease issues.

[craftymama]

We love mint, could you please share your recipe?

 

Our family has an almost unbelievable history of heart disease.

Sent it in a PM.

[zoobie]

Is Spectrum organic shortening made with palm oil? It's non-hydrogenated and doesn't taste weird. It works just like regular vegetable shortening.

[wapiti]

There's a recipe for "Sugar Drop Cookies With Oil" somewhere in Joy of Cooking that I've been making since I was a kid.  I take a ball of dough and roll it in cinnamon sugar rather than just sugar, before flattening it, so they come out more like snicker doodles.  I suppose one could tweak it with mint or some other holiday flavor.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=C4_5MCUd6ucC&pg=PA705&lpg=PA705&dq=%22joy+of+cooking%22+%22sugar+drop+cookies+with+oil%22&source=bl&ots=2e8ZOAjAPV&sig=GM-nH1Ot-ye71RxWjpOh6vG29dg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5s_y8jdfJAhXprIMKHQKXAJcQ6AEIMDAD#v=onepage&q=%22joy%20of%20cooking%22%20%22sugar%20drop%20cookies%20with%20oil%22&f=false

 

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080801202832AAmyN2y

 

(I use olive oil in these particular cookies lately - works fine IMO)

 

I do feel your pain.  I was never really successful at replacing butter in my other cookie recipes and didn't care for Earth Balance either.

Edited December 12, 2015 by wapiti

[Carol in Cal.]

If you look closely at the Hershey's powdered unsweetened chocolate box, you will see that 3 tablespoons of oil plus 1 of powdered chocolate is the same as one square of unsweetened baking chocolate.  So I use that in my Chocolate Crinkles recipe, and it turns out fantastic.  There is still some butter in the initial part of the recipe, but it's a lot less than in most recipes because the chocolate has so much fat in it.  I have never tried subbing in oil for that butter, but I bet that it would work to half and half at least.

[Pippen]

Can you use nuts or nut oils?

 

[Prairie~Phlox]

I love these cookies, I'm sure you could use whatever oil you want.  Actually I may try them this year with a GF mix since DD is GF now.

Chocolate Crinkles

 

3/4 cup salad oil

2 cups sugar

¾ cup cocoa

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

 

Mix the salad oil, sugar & cocoa, add eggs one at a time, then gradually add the rest of the ingredients, blending well.  Chill ½ hour, drop by teaspoons into powdered sugar and bake at 350º, 10-12 minutes.

[KrissiK]

I make the Chocolate Crinkle recipe mentioned above often. It's very good!

[KungFuPanda]

You might try making mini tarts. They're cookie-sized, festive, and you can use non-butter pie crust recipes.

[BarbecueMom]

3-ingredient peanut butter cookies, if no allergies? I think it's 1 c. PB to 1 c. sugar to 1 egg? And I think I add a bit of vanilla. Aldi has organic PB with no hydrogenated or palm oils for 3.99, I think.

[umsami]

The snowball cookies/chocolate crinkle cookies use oil and are yummy.  http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-crinkles/941e22b3-9a48-4fb1-bdb0-27479e76d484

[rebbyribs]

We've enjoyed these Chai Spice Snickerdoodles several times:

 

http://www.theppk.com/2012/09/chaispicesnickerdoodles/

 

They use canola oil as the fat.

[umsami]

We tried this recipe (or one similar) for oil based sugar cookies and it wasn't bad.

http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cookies/easy-oil-sugar-cookies.html

 

 

For meringues, the key IMHO is to bake them low and slow.  I make them (and live in Florida) without issues.  My favorite was ones that had some ground almonds and mini chocolate chips in them.  They were like this recipe, but with almonds instead of walnuts.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/meringue-cookies-forgotten-kisses-recipe.html 

[AK_Mom4]

This is one place where chocolate is your friend. You will get better tasting results with oil and chocolate than you do with oil and butter. And as I am a total butter addict, that's a bold statement!

 

Look for chocolate recipes that use baking chocolate (comes in squares). Chocolate sugar cookies can be cut out if you chill the dough. And have you ever had chocolate gingerbread?

 

Sub a vegetable oil 1-1 for butter in a chocolate recipe.

[Pippen]

I've been wanting to try these hazelnut shortbread cookies made olive oil. I think they'd be pretty with a drizzle of royal icing. 

http://www.thekitchn.com/quick-cookie-recipe-hazelnut-and-olive-oil-shortbread-recipes-from-the-kitchn-162560

 

The Pfeffernusse recipe my family makes uses melted butter, but the flavors are strong enough I'm sure it could handle a substitution.

 

If you can do almonds, I have a very good recipe for homemade marzipan, that's more traditional marzipan than the one below (which is crisper like a cookie). You must use superfinely ground almond flour for both recipes. 
 

Marchpane (From Lobscouse & Spotted Dog)

1/2 pound blanched almonds (I used slivered)

1 cups superfine sugar

1 egg white, slightly beaten

Food coloring (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 150 degrees.

 

Grind the almonds as finely as you can.  Mix in the sugar and the egg white. (I do these first steps in my food processor).  Knead the mixture until smooth. If the almonds were very dry, the mixture may need a few drops (no more) of oil to stick together as this dough can be difficult to work with.

 

To make flat Marzipan cakes:

On a piece of wax paper, roll the dough out until it is about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut into squares or diamonds with a sharp knife or use small cookie cutters, such as petit four size.

 

To make Marzipan fruits:

Pinch off walnut-size lumps of dough and shape them into desired fruits.  The paste is not easy to work with but it can be done.  Roll out a small piece of dough until it is 1/8 inch thick and cut it into leaf shapes with a sharp knife.  Press the leaves gently into place on the fruits.

 

For both:

For each color, add a few drops of food coloring to a teaspoon of water and brush onto marzipan with a small paintbrush.  Place the cakes or fruits on a lightly greased (or non-stick sprayed) cookie sheet and bake at 150 degrees for 40 minutes to one hour.  When done they should feel dry to the touch but not hard.  Cool on racks.

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Pippen

[Desert Strawberry]

Is Spectrum organic shortening made with palm oil? It's non-hydrogenated and doesn't taste weird. It works just like regular vegetable shortening.

It is pure palm oil. Nothing else.