Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
These vegan lemon poppy seed cookies are crispy at the bottom and chewy at the top and super addictive. They are bursting with lemon flavor and have a lovely slight crunch from the poppy seeds!
Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies Recipe
Many years ago when muffins weren't really a thing yet here in Germany, I used to only get good muffins in the UK. So whenever I travelled to England (which was usually about once a year for a while) I got my favorite two kinds of muffins at different coffee shops. One was blueberry and one was lemon poppy seed. I've never been a big chocolate muffin kind of girl and love muffins with fruit.
A few days ago I was lying in bed late at night and for some reason I remembered those muffins and how good the flavor combination of lemon and poppy seeds was. And I thought about how I could have the same flavor combination but not in muffin form. Muffins are great, don't get me wrong. But my family isn't much into muffins somehow (except for maybe chocolate) and they almost always end of going bad before they have all been eaten. I mean, I cannot eat 10 muffins. Or could I?
So I had the idea of turning that awesome flavor combination into cookies! Lemon happens to be one of my family's favorite flavors anyways. Lemon ice cream, lemon cake, lemon creams... you name it. Do you know Lemon creams? They're these awesome cookies you get in South Africa – my husband's absolute favorite cookie. Pity you just cannot get them or anything similar here.
My little son was a big helper since he just HAD to try the dough and tell me if it was lemony enough. Believe me, he took his job very seriously!
And when they were finished, we obviously had to try them. Like really try them. I don't think there are any left now 2 days later. But to be fair, we did bring a little bag of them to friends as a surprise. After all, you gotta share the love. And the cookies. I got a voice message that night from their little boy saying these are the BEST cookies he's ever had! Kid approved cookies! What more do you need?
These cookies are bursting with lemon flavor. That's because they contain lemon aroma, lemon juice and lemon peel. Lemon aroma is a mixture of oil and natural lemon aroma. If you can't find that in your store, a good substitute would be lemon essence or extract.
And the poppy seeds add such a lovely slight crunch to the cookies! I just love poppy seeds!
These cookies are crunchy and chewy. They're basically a mixture of what my husband and me like. He likes crunchy cookies and I prefer chewy cookies. These ones have a bit of a crunch because you bake them until the bottom is slightly browned and crispy. And they're also chewy at the top. Just perfect. I have to bake a batch again soon since everybody loved them so much.
Will you be making a batch of these soon? Or how about my Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Cookies?
These vegan lemon poppy seed cookies are crispy at the bottom and chewy at the top and super addictive. They are bursting with lemon flavor and have a lovely slight crunch from the poppy seeds!
- 1 tablespoon flax meal
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (solid, not liquid)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon essence
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 1.5 cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- salt
- 1/8 cup poppy seeds
Pre-heat oven to 180°C (356°F). Cover a tray with parchment paper or use a non-stick baking tray.
Add flax meal (see note) into a small bowl together with the water and mix really well. Put in the fridge for 10 minutes. Mix well again before using it.
Add coconut oil and sugar to a bowl and cream together for 1 minute.
The coconut oil has to be creamy and not liquid! If your isn't, pop it in the fridge for a while.Add lemon essence, lemon juice, lemon zest and the flax egg to the mixture and mix together well.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Using a 1 tbsp measuring spoon, shape uniform cookies and add them to the baking tray. Make sure to leave enough space between them so they can expand while baking.
Bake cookies at 180°C (356°F) for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them. They will have a nicely browned bottom but be a bit chewy at the top. Enjoy!
Serving size: Makes 18 cookies
Flax meal: if you can't get it, just blend whole flax seeds until they have a flour-like consistency.
