Sonia's snickerdoodles

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Day 10 of the Free Press's 21 Days of Holiday Cookies features Sonia's Snickerdoodles. We will be publishing one cookie recipe every day -- Monday to Saturday -- till Christmas.

SONIA Lemoine sends in this recipe for vegan snickerdoodles, a handy standby if you have vegan guests or people with dairy or egg allergies. "No one can tell it's vegan," writes Sonia. "In fact, all they know is it's delicious and they want more."

Sonia's Snickerdoodles

250 ml (1 cup) vegan margarine (I used Becel Vegan; Sonia uses Earth Balance)

310 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar

30 ml (2 tbsp) non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)

7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla

400 ml (1 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour (Sonia uses unrefined)

60 ml (1/4 cup) cornstarch

5 ml (1 tsp) cream of tartar

5 ml (1 tsp) cocoa

2 ml (1/2 tsp) baking soda

1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt

75 ml (1/3 cup) sugar

5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon

2 ml (1/2 tsp) nutmeg

Cream margarine and sugar in large bowl. Add milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Sift together flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, cocoa, baking soda and salt and add to margarine mixture. Stir until combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes or overnight. Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and spread on a plate. Roll dough into 2.5 cm (1 in) balls and roll in sugar-cinnamon mix. Place balls about 6 cm (2.5 in) apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

Taster's notes: These cookies are quite flat -- make sure to space the dough far apart, because these babies really spread -- but they have a chewy, sugar-dusted texture that's just fabulous. I actually like them better than "normal" snickerdoodles. The nutmeg adds a Christmassy touch.

To see previous cookie recipes, visit www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/cookies.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 11, 2010 C2