Worth the wait {and a cookie recipe}

Shark! You know we just had to do it.
Last week I let Little L in on a secret - I had plans to make us some vegan goldfish crackers. Of course, as soon as he heard my secret he wanted to make them right then, but I informed him that I had just ordered the fish cookie cutter the day before so it would be a few days before we could do it. He was disappointed but vowed to check the mail every day until it came. So every day we would walk to the mail box (it's in the middle of our neighborhood) to see if it came, and every day we would leave empty handed. That is until just the other day. When Little L saw the padded envelope in our box he started jumping up and down and giggling hysterically. It finally came! This meant dropping everything and baking some crackers straight away. We used a recipe I found here. They were really quite simple and fast to make. The only problem was that my children ate them as fast as I could bake them. I only had a partially filled jar to photograph. That, too, was devoured right after I snapped the pic. They asked me to triple the recipe next time. I have a feeling that will be very soon. I think that means they were worth the wait! If you are vegan or avoiding dairy I implore you to run to your pantry now and make some! We already had all of the ingredients on hand (minus the special cutter!)
And since we are on the topic of delicious snacks, I thought I would share my family's favorite go-to recipe for when we are craving a sweet. It's a recipe we adapted from The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book. I would have these on hand at all times if possible, but again they are devoured within a day or two.

Almond Butter Cookies

1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 - 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup earth balance soy free margarine
jam of your choice (we like the Trader Joes Organic sugar-free strawberry jam)

This recipe makes about 24 or so.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream margarine and almond butter together by hand or in your mixer. Stir in maple syrup. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add them to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
The dough should look something like this: Roll the dough into small balls (about a tablespoon or less) and place on a cookie sheet. You can leave them as they are and just have plain almond butter cookies (C's favorite way) or press the center of the balls with your thumb and then fill the thumbprints with jam. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy! We love them with a cup of hot tea.

Worth the wait {and a cookie recipe}