Veganized Italian Drop Cookies

My stepmother, Michelle, makes a platter full of cookies around Christmas time. Rum balls, Chinese finger cookies, peanut butter blossoms, Italian drop cookies, and ginger snaps!

The last two are my favorite! Michelle sent along the two recipes. Tonight, I made the Italian drop cookies. 

If you look closely, you can see the shiny glaze.

Now the recipe calls for either lemon or anise flavoring. Anise is not a flavor that bothers me, though I know it's not everyone's favorite (including Michelle's considering she crossed out the word "anise"). Soooo...on that note, my Italian drop cookies are lemony. 

My biggest obstacle in vegan baking is always the egg. Not because there isn't anything out there that will get the consistency quite right, but because I have so many options it can be difficult at times to determine which one will work best.

Today I went with Ener-G egg replacer. I think flax eggs would have worked better, BUT I'm getting to the bottom of my box of ground flax seed and lately it hasn't been gelling the way it usually does so I thought egg replacer would be a safer choice.

The cookies came out great! They were fluffier than my stepmothers, but equally delicious. 

First I made a half batch so I wouldn't waste ingredients if the cookies didn't turn out good. When I realized they were delicious, I made another half batch, combined them and through ball of dough in the freezer. I've been eating pretty junky lately and a whole batch of Italian drop cookies is not what I need right now.

I wonder if freezing them will change the texture at all...should be interesting.

Anyways, here is the recipe for those who are curious!

Italian Drop Cookies 

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) of butter, room temperature 1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of Tofutti sour cream, or whatever brand you prefer
3 Ener-G eggs/3 flax eggs/3/4 cup of silken tofu, pureed
1/4 tsp. of baking soda
2 tbsp. of baking powder
4 cup of flour
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
1 tsp. of lemon juice (I used the juice of half a lemon)

Lemon Glaze

Lemon juice of one lemon
3ish tbsp. of powdered sugar

Mix ingredients in a bowl with a fork until smooth.
   
Directions:

Beat the Ener-G eggs, sugar, sour cream, baking soda and powder, vanilla, and lemon together

Add butter and flour SLOWLY while continuing to blend. If the dough seems too moist, add more flour. 

Roll into small balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Let cool and dip into the lemon glaze. Garnish with sugar sprinkles if you have them (or candied lemon peel! That would be amazing!).