MAY IT PLEASE THE PALATE: Cocooning and vegan cookies

We live in challenging times. It seems the world is changing rapidly, and as social creatures, it's a struggle to adapt. A friend reminded me, however, that we are not so much learning social distancing as much as "physical distancing." The need to connect with our fellow humans is as strong as ever. One recent bright spot, through the confluence of various canceled trips and events, was a weekend at home with my wife, and daughter home from Colorado. We took advantage of the opportunity to cocoon: taking walks, streaming classic comedy shows, and home cooking. One of these was one of my favorite cookie recipes, an oatmeal-date-walnut concoction I've adapted to be vegan. Ingredients: 1 cup vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance) at room temperature 3/4 cup light brown sugar 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup applesauce 2 TB peanut butter 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups rolled oats 1 cup granola 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped Medjool dates 1 cup chopped walnuts Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. 2. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat for about 1 minute, until fully blended. 3. Beat in the applesauce, peanut butter, and vanilla. 4. Stir the oats and granola by hand. 5. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add this mixture to the bowl. 6. Stir in the chopped dates and walnuts, and mix everything together until fully blended into a dough. (It may be helpful to refrigerate at this point for about 30 minutes.) 7. Roll the dough into balls, using about 3 tablespoons of dough per ball. Arrange these balls on the baking sheets, with at least 2 inches of space between them. Flatten out each dough ball slightly. 8. Bake about ten minutes. No need to overbake. 9. Transfer the baking sheets to a cooling rack and allow them to cool. 10. Serve the cookies immediately, or store them in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks. One of the best things about these cookies is that without eggs, it's ok to eat the dough. Nothing bad will happen if you do I promise. Stay safe and sane, and in the words of one of those classic comedies, "Be excellent to each other!" -------- Nick Roumel is a principal with Nacht & Roumel PC, a firm in Ann Arbor specializing in employment and civil rights litigation. He has many years of varied restaurant and catering experience, has taught Greek cooking classes, and wrote a food/restaurant column for "Current" magazine in Ann Arbor. Follow him at Twitter or Facebook @nickroumel, or Instagram @nroumel. He is also a candidate for Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge (nickforjudge.com). Published: Tue, Mar 24, 2020