From the Upcoming GET-REAL VEGAN DESSERTS Cookbook: Coconut Florentines!

I always thought these lacy little wafers would be hard to veganize and bake. In fact, when William Maltese, my co-author in GET-REAL VEGAN DESSERTS: Vegan Recipes for the Rest of Us (coming soon from Wildside/Borgo), and I were discussing recipes we'd like to recreate in vegan form for the cookbook, I found a recipe card of my grandmother's... and almost tossed it in the "way too difficult" pile.

I'm glad I didn't, because these Florentines are a dream, and very simple to make.

Now, the directions say to drizzle the wafers with melted chocolate in a lacy pattern, but as William and I note in the cookbook, food-as-art is not everyone's gift (and certainly not mine). These delicately crispy cookies will taste great whether your chocolate is drizzled in a manner to rival Michelangelo or -- like me -- Jackson Pollock.

In fact, Pollock is credited with the following quote:

It doesn't matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said.

I'm saying, "COCONUT, and CHOCOLATE." Which, incidentally, I feel is enough.

I hope you enjoy making these little treasures as much as William and I did. Oh, and... Happy Vegan MoFo!

(By the way, please go VOTE for this blog in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Food Allergy Mom blog contest! Sexy Vegan Mama was a late nomination, and there are only a few days left of the contest, so I have a lot of catching up to do! You can vote once every 24 hours. Thank you!)

Coconut Florentines
From GET-REAL VEGAN DESSERTS: Vegan Recipes for the Rest of Us

1/2 c. unbleached flour
1/4 t. baking soda
1/8 t. salt
1/4 c. vegan stick margarine
1/3 c. cane juice crystals or natural sugar
2 T. light corn syrup
1/2 T. egg replacer powder, beaten with 2 T. water (we use Ener-G)
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/4 c. non-dairy chocolate chips
1 T. vegan stick margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir flour with baking soda and salt.

Cream in margarine.

Gradually cream in cane juice crystals or natural sugar, and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Add corn syrup and egg replacer, blending well.

Stir coconut and vanilla into flour mixture.

Drop by half-teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets, about three inches apart. The wafers will bake "out" a lot, and spread.

Bake about 8 to 10 minutes. The edges of the wafers will be golden brown.

Remove baking sheets from oven and cool one minute, then quickly remove wafers from sheets. If wafers harden on pan, return to oven for about one minute to soften.

Melt chocolate and 1 tablespoon margarine in saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle in a lacy pattern over the wafers. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

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