Non-Dairy Treats

My darling nephew is lactose intolerant.  I mean SERIOUSLY intolerant.  Rotten thing.  My sister can't even eat margarine with the tiniest HINT of milk in.  So, we've been getting creative.  Especially as the Christmas season approaches, she's been feeling the tragedy as the rest of us have started enjoying the holiday goodies.  (Oh, my nephew doesn't like my sister to eat chocolate, either!)

This evening, we went to a cookie swap, and obviously that meant we had to bring a cookie to share.  So, I thought, I know!  I'll do a sugar cookie that's dairy-free.  That way she'll be able to eat at least one of the treats.  So I did some digging.

Found out 2 things
1 - There are tons of yummy recipes out there that are dairy-free.
2 -  Coconut oil can be used to replace butter in just about anything, and it's WAY better for you than either butter, margarine or anything hydrogenated.  (But, you have to get the extruded (ie- pressed) stuff, because the heat extraction hydrogenates, at least partly, the oil.)

Anyway, we made sugar cookies using this recipe (click for a closer look):

 

Oh!  They were divine!  I'm so pleased!!! The sugar cookie recipe would be the most amazing recipe to use if you wanted to cut shapes with a cookie cutter, because they don't lose their shape.  They'll stay a crisp cut, rather than becoming a blob.  And, if you bake them til just under "done" they'll be chew inside and crisp outside.  Oh... one thing I learned.... I like the temperature a little lower than you usually find it in recipes.  So, even though this one calls for 375 F, I went with 350 F.  Just a matter of personal preference.  Also, rather than replacing the vanilla, like I suggest in the cookie recipe, with peppermint, you can add a tiny amount (I used 1/2 tsp) of peppermint to the mix w/o changing anything else, and give it a hint of peppermint!