Vanilla Rum Spice Cookies

These are SO good!

When I took them out of the oven last night, I gave my husband a small bite. Just to see if he'd like them.

And I swear to you, I thought his eyeballs were going to roll back in his head, and all he could say was "MORE OF THOSE!!"

Yep! That's what I was going for! Now, I gave him the un-frosted variety because he doesn't like frosting at all. But they're really good either way.

The funny thing about these, is that they're not what they're supposed to be. They're supposed to be Root Beer Cookies. I found this great little recipe here at Makes and Takes. And thought that was a brilliant idea!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on any root beer flavoring. But I did have some rum flavoring hidden in the back of my spice rack & it's been begging me to use it for over a month now. So, I thought, what the heck? I'll give it a shot.

And y'know what?

They're divine! I don't think I'm even going to try the root beer version now!

Here's what I did:

Makes about 2 dozen

• 1 cup vegan butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp imitation rum extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and brown sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the rum & vanilla extracts. Whisk dry ingredients together. Add a little at a time to the creamed mixture. The dough should be slightly sticky

Chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease several baking sheets, or line them with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Roll into balls & place on cookie sheet. With a spoon, press down on the top of each ball, so it's flattened a little bit.

Bake for 6-8 minutes. More if you're cookie balls are a little bigger. When done transfer to a plate or paper towels to cool.

My frosting is a little free-form and I make it a little differently depending upon what it's going on. For these cookies, this is pretty much what I did:

• 1 stick of earth balance butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• a whole lot of powdered sugar

mix all ingredients together well and keep adding the powdered sugar until you get a nice stiff consistency.

Then I filled the little spoon sized depression on top of the cookies with the frosting, and volia!

I suppose you could cover the whole cookie with frosting, but in my personal opinion, the flavor of the cookies is subtle and delicate and too much of the frosting would be overpowering. Plus, they look pretty with just a dab of frosting.

Everyone in my household LOVES these, so this recipe is definitely a keeper!