These cookies are just like Tagalongs, the Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties, only better! These are made with only natural ingredients, without whey, gluten, hydrogenated oils or artificial ingredients. I recently revisited this recipe in 2014 to improve it and decided to try a variation on Fran Costigan‘s “Chocolate Olive Oil Glaze for Chocolate-Dipped Anything” recipe from her new Vegan Chocolate cookbook for the dipping chocolate. I used semi sweet chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate. These cookies are gorgeous!
Cookies
1/3 cup olive oil
¾ cup sugar (evaporated cane juice)
2¼ cups rice flour
1½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup applesauce
2 teaspoons flax meal in ¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Cream
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Chocolate Coating
12 oz. semi-sweet nondairy chocolate chips
4 tablespoons olive oil
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and xanthan gum. Set aside. In a small bowl beat together flax seed and water. Add in applesauce and mix well. In a large bowl cream together oil and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add in flax/applesauce mixture and beat until smooth. Add in vanilla. With mixer on low, slowly add in flour mixture. Mix until completely incorporated and dough is uniform. Shape into a cylinder with a diameter of about 2 1/2 inches. Wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350oF. Cut dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place on cookie sheet, about a half inch apart. You can use your hands to shape the dough and make each cookie more round and uniform. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool.
Mix together peanut butter and powdered sugar to make a stiff dough. If the dough is crumbly you may need to add a little olive oil to make a smooth dough. With hands, roll about a teaspoon of dough into a small circle and press onto each cookie.
Melt chocolate with olive oil in a double boiler. Dip one cookie at a time in the chocolate. Coat cookie completely in chocolate and lift it out with a fork. Let the extra chocolate drip back into the pot and then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with each cookie until they are all coated. Cool in refrigerate or freezer to set. Cookies must be sufficiently chilled for several hours for the chocolate to set and harden.