The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie – it’s Vegan!

the decadent chocolate chip cookie pile

Alrighty, kids! Here it is. I promised that I would, someday, share my recipe for these decadent chocolate chip cookies. Well, someday is here. What?? These cookies are so chocolatey. They are mouth-watering. They are mixed in one bowl.  They are ooey- gooey finger-licking delicious. And they are, believe it or not, vegan.

That’s right, my friends. No chickens, no cows, no sentient beings whatsoever, were harmed in the making of these cookies. You can even eat the dough! All of it! (though I wouldn’t recommend it because they are a whole lot better baked;)

I cannot count how many times I’ve made chocolate chip cookies in my life (never mind how many I have eaten). When I played around with veganizing the classic toll house cookie, I made the usual subs: vegan butter, aquafaba, vegan chips. A bit of a perfectionist, I started to make improvements here and there. I increased the brown sugar to white sugar ratio to given them a little more depth. Tossed in oats to give them some fullness. Subbed in flax eggs to up the nutrition factor.

I found that chilling the dough before baking makes them rise more. (Purely a serendipitous discovery-one time I just didn’t feel like baking. I covered the dough and stuck in the fridge overnight.) The next day I found that chilled dough rolls into beautiful balls:

beautiful chocolate chip cookie balls

And baked up just a little more lofty:

rise up and smell the chocolate

In the oven at 360 for exactly 11 minutes , these guys cool on the pan for  5. Then off to the cooling rack, up to the lips and over the gums, look out tummy…

THE decadent vegan chocolate chip cookie

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The Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie – oh it’s Vegan, too!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks room temperature
• 1 cup Sucanat or vegan brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Organic Cane Sugar
• 2 flax eggs (mix 2 tbsp flax meal with 6 tbsp water in small dish)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon vegan creme de cacao *see Sound Bites for info
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Rolled Oats or other rolled oats
• 1 10-12 ounce bag about 2 cupsvegan chocolate chips- I used Enjoy Life

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 360F.

2. Prepare 1-2 baking sheets by covering with foil, parchment or silpat.

3. Prep flax eggs: in a small dish or ramekin, mix 2 tbsp flax meal with 6 tbsp water and set aside for about 10 minutes.

4. In a large bowl cream butter and sugars together until uniform.

5. Addflax eggs, vanilla and creme de cacao and mix well.

6. Pour flour on top. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the flour and gently mix those into the flour (this way you can avoid another bowl).
7. Combine flour mixture with butter mixture.
8. Add in chocolate chips and oats and combine till uniform.
9. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. (You can skip this step, but cookies might not be AS fluffy)
10. Form balls of dough a little larger than golf balls as pictured- about 12 per sheet.
11. Bake for 11 minutes until cookies look ever so slightly underdone. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on sheet before removing to cooling rack.
12. Enjoy warm or cool.
13. Note: If for some reason these aren't gobbled up, they can be frozen. I find they stay fresher that way. Simply place cooled cookies in an airtight container and pop into the freezer. Thaw when ready to enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Vok Creme de Cacao is used in this recipe because I believe that this is THE secret ingredient. Again, serendipity played a role...I was out of vanilla and subbed with this liqueur. And the cookies were simply AMAZE! Click on the link and you will arrive at Barnivore...the vegan alcohol authority. Cheers!