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Oh, the weather outside is frightful! Okay, so, it’s not really frightful in the least bit. But, it is chilly out, and chilly weather always makes me want to bake thing, like cookies. I’ve always loved pinwheel cookies, which is irritating, as they are the most challenging cookies to make. They’re super delicate and require some finessing, but they are really pretty! I decided to ease my way into them this year by making some low carb vegan pecan swirl cookies.
The ingredients for these are pretty simple, but the technique is a little tricky, and may take a bit of practice to get the hang of. The good news is, these cookies taste just as good in lump-form. Trust me here.
Notes on Baking Low Carb Vegan Pecan Swirl Cookies
- When you are rolling out the dough, if it seems too brittle, definitely work in another tbsp or two of cream cheese. This will be really helpful later. If the dough isn’t pliable enough, it will be incredibly frustrating to work with.
- If they start to split while cutting them, no worries – just re-form them with your hands.
- I like to sprinkle cinnamon on the outside of these, because cinnamon is delicious.
- If if becomes too frustrating to roll out the little logs, there is no reason you can’t smush it all together, and just cut little solid discs. I have done this on many occasions.
- I used Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese. Any brand should work, but because some are drier than others, you may need to add an extra tbsp or two to the dough.
- Similarly, I used Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour, but you may need to add a bit of moisture if the one you use is a bit more absorbent.
- If you’d rather omit the chickpea flour, you can just add a tsp of water to the filling mix instead.
- Remember – if you use a sweetener like Swerve that is erythritol-based, the sugar alcohols don’t count towards total carbs!
Low Carb Vegan Pecan Swirl Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 4 oz 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
- 5 tbsp coconut flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar substitute
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Filling
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar substitute
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Cream together cream cheese, sugar substitute and vanilla in a small mixing bowl.
- Add in coconut flour and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined. Everything will kind of form a dough ball. Let this dough ball sit for a few minutes.
- Combine the filling ingredients into another small bowl and set aside.
- Roll out the cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper into a rectangle that is about 12" long, 4" wide and 1/4" thick. It doesn't have to be perfect! Cling wrap could work for this as well.
- Spread the filling mixture over the dough rectangle, being sure to get a little bit into each part, and leaving about a half inch of space all around.
- Using the parchment to aid you, slowly roll the dough into a a log. This is not the easiest thing in the world, and it will probably crack, but don't worry about that! I try to do this as slowly as possible, and fix cracks as I go.
- Once the roll is all, well...rolled, wrap it back in the parchment, and gently squeeze down the roll to try and tighten everything up. I roll it gently on the table a few times.
- Chill this for about 5-10 minutes in the freezer to firm it up.
- Remove from the freezer, slice into 1/2" disks, and place on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden and it is cooked all the way through.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before transferring. This is important, as the sugar alcohols will not set up when warm, and everything will crumble. Trust me on this, they need to cool.
- Enjoy!
Do you think the chickpea flour could be subbed for almond flour or even more coconut flour?
Hi Krysten, you could definitely use soy flour or lupin flour in place of the chickpea flour. Almond flour will work (but won’t have the same texture), but I wouldn’t use coconut flour – it’s too dry!
The almond flour will still taste good, it just won’t be as caramel-like as using a bean-based flour. 🙂
thanks for this=– it’s such a treat to enjoy a cookie! You mention baking soda in the ingredients list but not in the recipe. when do you add that?
Hi Linda – sorry about that! You can add it in with the rest of the dry ingredients – I’ll be sure to update the recipe now 😀