Recipes

Vegan S’mores Cookies

By Arielle Hawthorne
 

Hawthorne and her family’s journey to plant-based eating started with her lymphoma diagnosis in 2016. Adopting a vegan diet has been part of her path to wellness and the catalyst for Twisted Plants, whose initial food truck model grew into a Cudahy restaurant in 2020. Committed to running a business in Milwaukee, Arielle and husband Brandon have been focused on expansion, with locations on Brady Street and at the Sherman Phoenix, all satisfying the fast-food itch with vegan interpretations of burgers, fries and shakes. One way of looking at the “twist” this restaurant name alludes to is that vegan food can be indulgent and comforting. Arielle’s home cooking arrives at that place called familiar American food. It just happens to be plant-forward. And plants can behave like meat. Vegan cooks use different substitutes for eggs. For these cookies, it’s aquafaba, which is the liquid left behind when you drain a can of chickpeas. It doesn’t work for all vegan baking, but Arielle Hawthorne has success with it here.

Ingredients

12-14 servings

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons aquafaba

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup vegan marshmallows

1/2 cup crushed graham crackers

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a bowl and mix. In a separate bowl, combine butter, both types of sugar, vanilla and aquafaba. Use a mixer to beat on medium speed until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

 

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients from the first bowl, and mix until all dry ingredients are mixed in. Fold in the chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers. Use a cookie scoop to scoop balls of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for eight to 10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool before enjoying.

1

The key to melting vegan cheese is to use a cover. For her vegan lasagna, Arielle covers the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil while it bakes.

Bio

Arielle Hawthorne spent her childhood years living in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, and says her earliest memories of cooking are when she was 10 years old. “Food has always been a way to bring my extended family together,” she says. Hawthorne and husband Brandon started their vegan concept, Twisted Plants, in 2019, a year after they’d both drastically changed their diets by omitting meat and dairy products. What started as a seasonal food truck operation has blossomed into two brick-and-mortar locations and an additional food truck, allowing them to not only share their love of cooking with the community but also educate people about the plant-based lifestyle.

Arielle Hawthorne

Twisted Plants

Arielle Hawthorne

Twisted Plants

About Twisted Plants