Down To Earth: Easy Vegan Cut Out Cookies (The stoned, the funny, the angry, and the appropriate)

Cut out cookies bring back wonderful childhood memories for me; they were not just synonymous with Christmas, but with almost every holiday - Valentine's day (cut out lips and hearts frosted pink), St. Patrick's Day (shamrocks and leprechauns frosted green), Easter (eggs and ducks frosted yellow and purple).

We'd make a couple dozen and bring them to school to share with friends, make a little cookie tray for the grandparents, and of course keep a few in the house for an after school snack.

The best part of cut out cookies is the decorating. You have a cookie with a general shape, but what you make of it is all up to the imagination!

My sister and I have a lot of fun decorating our family's Christmas cut outs . . .

Bob Marley Christmas Cookie (with dreads, Rastafarian colors, and little doobie)

Business Man Christmas Cookie (complete with cell phone and tie)

And, a Very Angry Christmas Cookie (with red angry eyes and big scary teeth)

Yes, cooking is CREATIVITY!

These cookies, however, are not of the stoned, funny, or angry kind, they're of the cute kind!

I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow and offered to bring a vegan treat. My first instinct was . . .cookies! Of course. After some deliberation, I settled on cut out cookies.

I wanted to do something that tied into the nursery rhyme "...frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails - that's what little boys are made of", but I didn't think bringing frog or snail cut out cookies to a baby shower would go over too well. I could just imagine it: "You think my baby will look like a frog?!?", "My baby is not a slug!" . . . I opted for the safe, socially acceptable baby duck cookie cutter from Anne Clark Ltd.

Easy Vegan Cut Out Cookies

You'll need:

2 C unbleached, sifted flour

3/4 C white sugar

1 t baking powder

1/4 C applesauce

1/2 C canola oil

1 T pure vanilla extract

1/2 t cinnamon

To make:

1. Mix together dry ingredients in large mixing bowl

2. Mix together wet ingredients in a separate, smaller bowl

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and hand mix with a fork. Careful not to over mix; this will make the dough tough.

4. Take ball of dough from the bowl and place on floured counter top. With a rolling pin, roll out dough to about 1/2'' thickness.

5. Use your cookie cutters to cut shapes into the dough. Use a spatula to get cookies off counter top and onto parchment-lined cookie pan.

6. Cook cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes.

The cookies are not punchy sugar sweet, but more of a mild, shortbread-y flavor. If you really want to give them a sugar smack, frost them with vegan butter cream frosting!

Raw dough