How (Not) to Make Sugar Cookies (Vegan)

So, finals are finally over. My GPA ended up being not so bad...I kept it a decent amount above a 3.0 and it ended up being higher than my lowest semester GPA of high school, though slightly below my high school cumulative GPA. Miraculously, I got out of French with a C, a grade that I am quite proud of obtaining. Otherwise, I mostly got A's, which makes me quite glad.
Just before studying for finals began, Anna and I decided to get our Christmas spirit on. So, we headed out to Target for some Christmas shopping. We left with wrapping paper, gifts, candy canes, a wreath for our door, glittery ornaments, an illegal Christmas tree (apparently, you're not allowed to have a Christmas tree in a dorm...ooops), a package of sugar cookie mix, and some frosting (which happens to be accidentally vegan).

Our awesome Christmas tree.

When we returned to our humble abode, we decided to make some sugar cookies, of course. Anna is vegan, so we needed a substitute for the egg and butter that the mix required. However, we forgot to purchase said substitute. Luckily, we knew what to do (or at least, we thought we knew what to do). So, here's our recipe:
Ingredients:
sugar cookie mix
2 individual portion-sized containers of applesauce
1 banana
1 spray oil (like Pam)
frosting (Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, etc)
sprinkles

First, mash the banana into a pulp. Make it as creamy as absolutely possible. We used a fork to do this part.
Then, in a large bowl (we used a pot, as we do not have a mixing bowl), combine the sugar cookie mix with the applesauce and banana. We used a wisk to combine these ingredients.
Stir it until it becomes doughy. Then stir it a little bit more. This will build up your biceps...so this recipe must be good for you (especially when you consider the amount of fruit in these cookies).
Then, place round globs of dough on a greased cookie sheet. You might want to flatten it a bit (we didn't do this and our cookies never fully flattened while they were cooking).
Bake following the instructions on the back of the sugar cookie mix. It may need a little bit longer to cook, and it will not brown on the outside like traditional sugar cookies should.
Remove from the cookie sheet and instantly frost (using a knife or a handy-dandy frosting tool of your choosing).
While the frosting melts on the warm cookies, decorate with sprinkles. Work fast.
Then, put the cookies back in the oven for no more than a minute or two, until frosting looks melted.

Let them sit for about an hour or two, to let the frosting harden (it will end up crunchy like royal icing)
Then, place them on a plate to be shared and slowly enjoyed.
Be sure to clean up the mess too. You especially want to clean up the cookie sheets because the frosting will get really gross and hard to clean up if you leave the cookie sheet uncleaned for too long.
This was really fun to make. Anna and I especially enjoyed our decorations, which weren't so conventional.

This is Anna's scientist cookie (note the different types of sprinkles represent different bacterium). 

This is my atheist cookie (note the gorilla sprinkles for the belief in evolution). 

Our cookies ended up looking very cool. And they ended up being vegan. But beyond that they weren't all that good. I mean, they were edible, but they did not taste like sugar cookies, nor did they cook properly. Apparently applesauce and bananas can only be used as substitutes for things like bread and muffins, not cookies. So, therefore, I cannot truly recommend that you make these cookies. Perhaps using egg and butter substitutes from the store is a better idea, if you want to make vegan sugar cookies.

Dorm Food

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