The cookies were meant to be cute. Cut into the shape of a rubber duckie with yellow sugar sprinkles. They smelled good, though they looked kind of flat.

Unfortunately, they tasted like cinnamon-flavored cardboard. They weren’t bad, exactly. But they weren’t something I’d seek out to eat.

A friend had made the cookies for vegans, but I had to wonder: What was the point? If a dessert doesn’t have milk, eggs and butter, is it really worth eating?

Absolutely, says local vegan Angie Quinn. The trick is knowing what to substitute – and knowing what recipe to start with.

Quinn shared some tips to make vegan baked goods taste good – no matter your eating persuasion.

Case in point: Her meat-eating husband even likes her sweets.

•Instead of finding a vegan recipe to bake, start with something that’s non-vegan – chock full of eggs, butter and milk – and adapt it.

“If it’s supposed to be healthy, I stay away from it,” Quinn says. “Just by knowing what to substitute, you can take any recipe and make it vegan.”

Take, for example, the schnecken she makes. The recipe came from a cookbook a former neighbor wrote. The German sweet roll calls for lard, eggs and milk.

•If a recipe calls for 1 egg, substitute 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed and 3 tablespoons of water. This is an especially good substitution when making something with a nutty flavor, such as Quinn’s schnecken. For recipes without nuts, Quinn suggests silken tofu that has been blended or whipped – 1/4 cup silken tofu for every egg. The tofu substitution won’t add much flavor, she says, but will make cookies more cakey and fluffy. One egg can also be replaced by 1/4 cup applesauce, but Quinn warns against this because there is no oil in applesauce, so the resulting recipe can be dry. There are also egg substitutes, which Quinn stays away from because she doesn’t like them.

•When substituting another product for dairy milk, Quinn first suggests not using vanilla soy milk, especially in baked goods. The milk might taste good to drink, but many baked goods require vanilla anyway, and the extra flavor can be overpowering. Instead, Quinn suggests plain rice milk. Soy milk, even plain, will add a bean flavor. Almond milk is a good substitute for a recipe that calls for nuts.

•For butter, Quinn suggests a solid shortening such as Crisco, which is vegan. For a healthier option in sweets, substitute 3/4 cup canola oil for 1 cup shortening or butter. For savory dishes, Quinn uses olive oil.

•Many vegans forgo white sugar, too. Vegsource, a website run by a woman with 40 years of experience in veganism, says table sugar in the United States is one of two sugars: beet sugar or cane sugar. The process for making cane sugar might include filtering the sugar through charcoal, which can come from animals. The step isn’t necessary for beet sugar, though sugars often will not specify which type it is. Quinn uses an organic, vegan sugar.

The schnecken smell like traditional cinnamon rolls as Quinn takes them out of the oven. They’re not as gooey as one might expect, but neither are the non-vegan rolls, she says. The differences between the two rolls, Quinn says, are minimal. The original has more caramel from the sugar/butter combo. Quinn says hers also taste lighter, likely because she doesn’t use the lard.

Vegan Schnecken

For the schnecken:

1/2 cup canola oil, plus additional as needed

1 cup rice, soy or almond milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups flour, divided

1/2 cup brown sugar, plus additional as needed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins

Pecans, as needed

Water, as needed

For the glaze:

1/2 cup water

1 cup white sugar

Mix canola oil and milk. Add sugar, salt and flaxseed and water mixture. Then add yeast, baking powder and soda. To this, add half of the flour. Let it rise 1 to 2 hours. Add the rest of the flour.

When raised again, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and roll out the dough. Spread brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins on the dough. Roll up as jelly roll, and slice. After you have greased the muffin tins well, put 1 big spoonful of brown sugar, 2 pecans, a bit of oil and 1 spoonful of water in each muffin cup; add one roll in each cup.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

Mix water and sugar for glaze. Drizzle on schnecken while still hot.

jyouhana@jg.net