Vegan Bon Bon Cookies

The classic bon bons recipe from Christmases past, only vegan (and easier to make than you think).

You know how people make fun of food bloggers for having long posts where they write about childhood memories and long walks in the park with their hubby? Don’t worry, I will never write about long walks in the park with my hubby. You kind of need a hubby for that.

I will, however, be writing just a bit about childhood memories in this post. If that’s super annoying, feel free to scroll to the bottom for the recipe. Although, please glance at the instructional photos I have in the post, as they might be helpful.

RECIPE ORIGINS

I’ve been wanting to make bon bon cookies for a long time.

To be clear, these are cookies. Not ice cream bon bons or a ball of chocolate-covered mousse. These are icing-covered, baked cookies with stuff inside of them.

My mom used to make bon bons every year for Christmas, along with several other kinds of holiday cookies. That is, until she became a vegan.

I loved my mother’s Christmas bon bons. They were my favorite kind of holiday cookie. I loved the specific sweetness they had, the different glazes she used, and not knowing what was in them until I took a bite.

As an inexperienced baker, I had always assumed it was impossible to make vegan bon bons, and maybe that’s why she stopped making them. She later confessed that she stopped making bon bons because they were a lot of work. Keep in mind, she would make over a hundred of them to give away as gifts.

The recipe in this post makes 12 cookies. That’s not a lot of work. I promise.

So, in honor of my vegan mom who loved bon bons and who died three years ago, I have made vegan bon bons this Christmas.

As far as I can tell, the recipe originated in a 1956 Betty Crocker cookbook. After an extensive internet search of various “classic” bon bon recipes, I realized that every single one of them was just a copy of the Betty Crocker recipe.

So I copied it too, substituting vegan butter and vegan milk for the dairy butter and milk. I also halved the recipe, making 12 cookies instead of 24.

INGREDIENTS

This is a surprisingly simple recipe: just six ingredients for the dough.

I have not tested any substitutions. I used all-purpose flour for my recipe, so I assume any flour that can easily substitute for that flour would work.

Also, I’m not sure you could substitute regular cane sugar for the powdered sugar. I don’t imagine the cookies would taste the same. The powdered sugar gives the bon bons a very “Christmassy” taste, which is an official baking term you learn in culinary school (I am assuming).

The vegan butter I used is Earth Balance (salted). To be honest, I don’t love their inclusion of palm oil, but it is also one of the cheaper vegan butters out there and I wanted to keep costs down.

I used oat milk for my milk.

INSTRUCTIONS

This section might be longer than usual, but I wanted to make sure I explain everything. Don’t worry, there will be no stories about my nonexistent hubby.

Sifting vs. Not Sifting

Sifting the flour and powdered sugar is optional. Weighing is recommended. But you can get away without doing either.

I sifted the flour and powdered sugar the first five times I made this recipe (four tests and the final blog post recipe). I did not sift the flour and powdered sugar for the next three batches of cookies I made for my sisters.

I think all the batches turned out fine. You probably don’t have to sift. But if you want to ensure zero lumps in the flour and powdered sugar, go ahead and sift.

You can use a mesh strainer or a sifter, like the one I have below.

I like to place my sifter on the scale before putting flour in it. This ensures I have the exact amount I need, and then it’s already in the sifter. Voila.

Weighing vs. Not Weighing

If you have a food scale, I recommend weighing the main ingredients (flour, powdered sugar, butter). I know many Americans don’t have one, and it’s okay if you don’t. In my experience, recipes – especially baking – always come out more consistently when I weigh my ingredients.

For example: the first time I made this recipe, I did not weigh the flour. I only used a measuring cup. The dough came out drier than I would have liked.

The second time I made the recipe, I decided to weigh my 3/4 cup of flour. The nutrition label said this should weigh 93 grams. But my 3/4 cup weighed 101 grams.

So I stuck to what the label said: 93 grams of flour. The dough turned out perfectly.

If you don’t have a scale, lightly spoon the flour and powdered sugar into your measuring cup. Then use the flat side of a knife to level it off. Never pack it in.

Mixing the Dough

1. Mix the flour and salt together in one bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the softened butter.
3. Add the powdered sugar and beat.
4. Add the vanilla extract and beat.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat until combined (dough might be crumbly).
6. Add the milk, beat a little more, and it should come together.

If it remains crumbly, use a wooden spoon or your fingers to smush the dough together. You may also need to add a tiny bit more milk.

Filling the Bon Bons

Now the fun part!

You can fill these with anything your heart desires. My only recommendation is not to overfill them. When in doubt, add less than you think you need. Once they’re rolled, you can stick a couple more fillings in there if there’s room.

There are no hard rules for this.

To fill, take a tablespoon of dough. (In two of my tests, I tried two tablespoons per cookie, which can work, you just have to up the baking time by about 5 minutes).

1. Make a dent in the dough with your thumb and fill it what whatever you want, but not too much.
2. Close up the ball.
3. Roll it in your hands.
4. Smooth the edges to form a ball.

Place each ball a couple of inches apart on a baking sheet.

Baking

This is a quick bake: 15 minutes at 350ºF.

The other bon bon recipes I found online (including the Betty Crocker book) all say to bake for 12-15 minutes. But in my testing, I found that, even with one tablespoon of dough, 12 minutes was not enough – some of the dough seemed raw, even after cooling.

So I recommend 15 minutes.

They should look like this afterwards. Tiny cracks are okay.

Icing & Sprinkling

You can put whatever kind of glaze you want on these. I have two recipes for vegan vanilla and vegan chocolate glaze and have included those at the bottom of this post.

I’ve seen other bon bon recipes say you can also just use store-bought icing, which of course you can – but I always like making my own.

Add sprinkles when the icing is still wet and let them cool on a wire rack.

And now, some photos. I took a lot of photos of these babies. Consider yourself lucky I’m not posting more than this.

I will include a cost breakdown at some point. I wanted to get this post up before Christmas!

I’m so happy I was able to recreate this bon bon recipe I learned from my mom. I would think she’d be pleased with how they came out. If you make this recipe, please let me know.

Happy holidays to all.