Full question
My friend is dairy free and I would love to make the Christmas Chocolate Cookies for her as a gift. I think I can substitue the butter but will the cocoa have any dairy that would be an issue? Thank you!
Our answer
Nigella's Christmas Chocolate Cookies (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) are fat patties of crumbly chocolate shortbread that can be glazed and decorated with seasonal sprinkles as Christmas gifts, though the cookies are delicious at any time of the year.
You can make the cookies with a plant-based butter alternative. These can be slightly softer in texture than butter, so it may help to chill the formed cookies for about 1 hour before baking them to prevent the cookies from spreading too much when they bake. Cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans once the cocoa fats have been removed. The beans are dried and roasted, then ground and pressed until they turn into a runny paste called cocoa liquor. The fat is separated out then the remaining cocoa solids are dried and this becomes cocoa powder. So cocoa powder should not contain any dairy. However, we suggest that if it is really important that there is no dairy, then you should check the packaging of the cocoa powder before you use it to be sure, as there may be a risk of cross contamination in factories.
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