Vinarterta Holiday Cookies (vegan, gluten-free)

This oat-based cookie is a subtle and healthy(ish) take on a classic Icelandic Canadian holiday torte.

During the holidays as a kid, my gramma would make vinarterta. It’s an Icelandic Canadian tradition and those that have had it either love it or hate it. But after making it with my gramma years ago, I know how labour-intensive it is and I’m the only one at home that will eat it. So, I decided to reinvent vinarterta into cookie form - vegan & gluten-free.

Ingredients & directions

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Effort/Skill: Medium

Ingredients

Cookies

1/2 cup vegan butter
1/3 cup sunflower seed butter or tahini or almond butter
1/2 cup cane sugar or coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 chia eggs*

2 cups oat flour**
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp cardomom
1 tsp cinnamon
zest of one lemon

Prune filling

2 cups dried prunes
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Icing

1/4 cup vegan butter
1-1.5 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
almond milk as needed

*2 chia eggs = 2 tbsp chia seeds and 5-6 tbsp water

**If you don’t have oat flour, simply toss some whole rolled oats in a blender or food processor until a flour forms (30 sec - 1 min max).

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl add hot water to prunes and set aside.

Next, prepare the cookies. Cream the butters and sugar well with a mixer. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts, then the chia eggs. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well. Roll into balls, flatten with the bottom of a glass and bake at 350F for 12 minutes. This recipe should make ~18-20 cookies.

While the cookies are baking, strain the prunes and blend until smooth in a blender with sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.

Once cookies and prunes are cooled, spread prunes between two cookies. Continue to pair up and fill the cookies. If you have an odd number, you’re obliged to get creative with the odd cookie out.

In a small bowl, mix the butter and sugar. Gradually add in vanilla. If you need to thin it out, add some almond milk. If it needs to be thicker, add more sugar.

Top filled cookies with icing.

Enjoy! Gleðilegt nýtt ár! Happy New Year!