Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just saw this recipe for a vegan chocolate chip cookie and wanted to make it for my girls. My daughter was so excited that I was making a chocolate chip cookie for her! I wasn't sure if this would taste any good, but decided to give it a try. It was a big hit- even with my husband who doesn't typically like my vegan desserts! Tastes like regular chocolate chip cookies and you would never know that they are vegan!

The GREAT thing about this vegan recipe, is it doesn't call for ingredients most vegan recipes call for that aren't things I typically have (like coconut oil, xanthum gum, flax seed). And it's nice that, since you don't use butter, you don't have to wait until the butter reaches room temp. I've used the Earth Balance vegan butter a lot for my daughter- but there is a certain different taste with it when you bake with it. You don't get that with this recipe. You don't need eggs for this recipe either!

What I learned:

• Added in 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and that was ok
• Cookie dough is a little more crumbly than typical cookie dough, so does help to freeze 10 min beforehand (make sure don't freeze too long! accidentally left it in freezer for 30 min, so had to thaw it a little bit to use it). Despite freezing dough, you still need to use your hands to roll the dough into a ball
• Sea salt makes the cookie taste really good
• Important to put dough in fridge for 24 hours before baking for the flavors to come together better. Learned that with the WSJ oatmeal raisin cookies.
• Do need to bake for 12 min. I made smaller cookies, so made ~32 smaller cookies
• Baked 2nd time- this time, flattened cookies before baking, and put sea salt before baking. Found it made a flatter, and crunchier cookie. Bake time prob could have been reduced to 11 min instead of 12 min.

A happy customer # 1



Test Subject # 2



Look how big happy customer # 1 is now!! She still loves these cookies! 

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan) (~from Ovenly)

Yield: Approximately 18 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 ¼ cup dark chocolate chips (we prefer chocolate with 60 percent cocoa content or higher)-Used Enjoy Life Vegan Chocolate Chunks: http://shop.enjoylifefoods.com/Mega-Chunks/p/ENJ-00313&c=EnjoyLife@Baking

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon canola oil

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Coarse-grained sea salt or flaky sea salt like Maldon, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips to the flour mixture and toss to coat.
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk the sugars briskly with the canola oil and water until smooth and incorporated, about 2 minutes. Note: use fresh, soft light brown sugar. If there are clumps, break them up with the back of a spoon or your hand before whisking.
3. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture, and then stir with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until just combined and no flour is visible. Do not overmix.
4. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours. Do not skip this step.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
6. Remove dough from the refrigerator and use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to portion dough into 2-inch mounds. We recommend freezing the balls of dough for 10 minutes before baking as the cookies will retain their shape better while baking.
7. Sprinkle the balls of dough with coarse-grained sea salt (if freezing, remove balls of dough from the freezer first), and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, or until the edges are just golden. Do not overbake.
8. Let cool completely before serving.

Excerpted from Ovenly by Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin (Harlequin). Copyright © 2014.