Last weekend, Kevin and I hosted a little St. Patrick’s day shindig, and I of course wanted to bake something. I also really wanted that something to be at least somewhat thematic. Another consideration? I finally ordered myself some vegan white chocolate chips. Now, I wish that this was something I could just pick up at my local store as it seems many of my fellow veganista’s across the border seem able to do, but alas, that is just not possible. Sad, sad face 🙁 🙁 .
I’ve been considering ordering these from Amazon for ages, but they only really sell a 4 pack of them (plus, in order to make shipping worth it, I’d want to order more than one anyway). The problem here of course is that ordering something like that sight unseen (or taste untasted I suppose is more accurate in this case) felt like a Tom Cruise level of Risky Business that I was hesitant to undertake. However, I finally bit the bullet. I just wanted to find out how good (or bad) these actually tasted so that in the future I could determine whether or not it was easier to let my lazy flag fly, or if I’m better off continuing with my current white chocolate process of making my own.
Since you’re clearly waiting with bated breath to see how this turned out, I will say that the flavour is totally white chocolate….if you’re used to purchasing the slightly waxy, not so high quality white chocolate. They’re really more tooth-achingly sweet than anything. However, that is not to say that I wouldn’t buy them again because they do have a few advantages over the white chocolate I’ve made myself (which tastes way way better, so if your main flavour will be white chocolate, you should really just make your own). They melt and solidify the same as regular white chocolate. I usually find with my own that if left out too long at room temperature, it doesn’t really stay solid, but rather develops a soupçon of meltiness which, though delicious in itself, it not always what you want. These on the other hand, most definitely firmed up just like regular baking chocolate chips. Also, if you’re only using it as an accent flavour (which was the case with these cookies), they’re actually perfect, because then you’re just adding a touch of needed sweetness, without overwhelming your palate with a shot of diabetes.
Ok Amber, enough with the boring-ness that I don’t care about!! What in the Sam-hell is your point here? Because time she-is a tickin’ and my sugar-fix has yet to be satisfied. I make no guarantees that my impatient toe tapping will not soon become impatient ass-kicking.
You’re right dear reader, and for that I apologize, but I think these are worth the wait. I didn’t want everything I was making to be mint (which seems the obvious and classic St. Paddy’s day choice). I already had a couple of other minty-things going on, but neither had the green hue I was going for. An so, in the interest of not wanting to use food colouring, my brain turned to matcha green tea powder to add that needed greenery that I wanted (plus, it would be a great contrast for the overly sweet white chocolate). What else is green and goes amazingly well with the coconut macaroons that I was thinking of making though? Lime!! I was super-happy with how these turned out, the flavour kind of reminded me of a margarita. So with the colour reminding me of spring, and the flavour reminding me of tropical beach vacations, winter seemed like a distant and completely forgettable nightmare. One which was unable to penetrate my white chocolate-coated feeling of joy.
Today, for your “enjoyment” (or more aptly torture 😉 ), I will end this post with a “lime”-erick that I’m just inventing now:
With limes and green tea going spare
A baker though “How can I share?
By combining with coco
(The kind that is loco)
I know! A St. Paddy’s affair!”
Happy (belated) St Patrick’s Day! 🙂
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut butter
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Zest of one lime (or about 2 teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder
- 3 tablespoons butterscotch liqueur (or more maple syrup)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- ¾ cups flour
- 1 cup vegan white chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat oven to 250F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat (or grease it).
- In a food processor, combine coconut butter, lime juice, lime zest, matcha powder, butterscotch liqueur, maple syrup and vanilla to the coconut butter in the food processor. Process until relatively smooth (approximately 5 minutes).
- In a separate bowl, combine the shredded coconut and flour.
- Add the matcha/lime paste to the dry ingredients and stir until fully mixed.
- With a small cookie scoop, or a tablespoon, drop mixture into golf ball sized balls onto the cookie sheet. They don’t spread out when baking, so you can put them relatively close together.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until bottoms just start to brown. They’ll be soft coming out of the oven, but they will harden relatively quickly as they cool.
- While they’re cooling, put white chocolate chips and cacao butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30-60 seconds. Stir until completely melted.
- When cookies are completely cooled, dip bottoms in the chocolate. Place remaining white chocolate into a piping bag (or Ziplock bag works too) and pipe extra chocolate across the top of the cookies. Allow chocolate to firm up (it should do this at room temperature relatively quickly, but if you want to speed up the process slightly, place in the refrigerator). Store at room temperature.
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