Once upon a time I worked at a small cafe that served a good amount of vegetarian & vegan food. I like to refer to my time there as one big “learning experience.” On my first day the manager told me to make 40 pumpkin pies with frozen pie dough, canned pumpkin & skim milk. He for some reason thought I was a pastry chef and judging from his ingredient list, a recipe wizard as well because in case you were wondering canned pumpkin + skim milk does NOT equal delicious pie. I tried to explain this fact to him beforehand but he told me to “make it work!” ….It didn’t. He yelled at me. My grandma still thinks this story is hilarious. Thanks, Grandma. This crazy little cafe was not exactly run very well but it did add some wonderful things to my life. One being my best friend Leona, who also happened to work there. (We bonded over mutually horrible work days.) The other wonderful things were these cookies. These vegan peanut butter cookies are seriously the most delicious peanut butter cookies I have ever had. And they’re vegan and relatively healthy. They have a really soft doughy texture and a strong peanut butter flavor without being too sweet. I used to eat them for lunch every day. And on my last day at the crazy cafe, I scribbled down the recipe so I could bake the best vegan cookie ever in the comfort of my own home. It was a fantastic idea. So I thought I would share this delicious recipe with all of you…but you don’t have to make 40 terrible pies in order to get your hands on it. Today is your lucky day!

Ingredients: Makes 48 teaspoon size cookies

• 6 oz silken tofu
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup soy or almond milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 4 teaspoons molasses
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice, or cinnamon