*PLEASE READ THE WHOLE RECIPE BEFORE YOU START
The only people who look up vegan chocolate chip cookies are people who just dedicated themselves to veganism and are already missing their old eating habits or people who didn’t go grocery shopping and ran out of eggs. Either way, these vegan chocolate chip cookies are a one-bowl recipe only using simple techniques to get a damn good cookie by any standard. I won’t promise people won’t notice that they are vegan, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be bad.
My biggest tips when following this recipe:
- Trust the process! Yes making vegan treats can be intimidating but I promise it isn’t as complicated as it may seem. There are a lot of stigmas around vegan desserts but at the end of the day this is just a cookie recipe and if worse comes to worst you’ll be left with ample amounts of edible cookie dough. (Keep in mind raw flour should be consumed with caution).
- Before flour is added, over-mixing is better than under-mixing. When flour is incorporated into a recipe, the entire recipe changes into either how to produce the most amount of gluten or how to produce the least amount of gluten. In this cookie recipe GLUTEN = BAD. So before adding the flour don’t be afraid to over-mix the ingredients! It’s better to develop more air pockets than leave the dough flat.
- It’s better to over-chill than under-chill. In this recipe, the cookie dough needs time in the refrigerator to allow the fats to solidify. Working with vegan butter, cookies that do not rest for at least 4 hours tend to spread thinner than desired. For the best cookies, make the dough and walk away. Do your laundry or go shopping or binge a few episodes of your favorite TV show but don’t touch the dough.
- Don’t overcrowd your pan when baking. I understand that you want cookies and you want them now and you’ve already had to wait far too long for them. However, putting too many cookies on the tray can lead to uneven baking. Less is more and less is more accurate with baking times.
- Have fun! Feel free to add anything you want to this recipe. The dough is a strong base for any kind of cookie. If you don’t like chocolate chips be lame and add raisins or throw in pretzels and white chocolate and peanut butter chips. Anything! Use this as a creative outlet because how many creative outlets do you really have in your life?
MATERIALS
1 large bowl
1 large fork (or whisk or electric mixer depending on your patience)
1 set of measuring cups
1 baking tray with liner
1 ice cream scooper
1 cooling rack
Saran Wrap
INGREDIENTS
½ CUP vegan butter (I use the brand Earth Balance)
½ CUP white sugar
½ CUP packed brown sugar
¼ TSP salt
¼ CUP plant-based milk
1 TBSP vanilla extract
⅜ TSP baking soda
⅛ TSP baking powder
1 ½ CUP ap flour
1 CUP vegan chocolate chips
15 Cookies
5 Hours
INSTRUCTIONS
- Make room in your refrigerator for a large bowl and double-check that you have all the required ingredients and materials.
- Soften ½ a cup of vegan butter in the microwave for 7-10 seconds
- Combine vegan butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved into the butter and has lightened in color. This should take around 7 minutes if mixed by hand and 3 minutes using an electric mixer.
- Add plant-based milk to the sugar mixture (I prefer almond milk for this recipe but any milk works) and vigorously whip. You’re looking for air bubbles to form. Don’t get worried if the milk begins to separate from the rest of the dough, it’s normal.
- Add salt, vanilla extract, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir to combine.
- Add the vegan chocolate chips. (Yes before the flour because adding the chips before flour lowers the chances of developing the gluten in the dough. Gluten = NOT GOOD.)
- Add flour and gently fold in until just combined.
- Saran wrap the top of the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours but a minimum of 48 hours. This dough can also be placed in the freezer for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375℉
- Use an ice cream scooper to place 4-5 dough balls on a lined baking sheet and bake cookies in the MIDDLE RACK for between 12-15 minutes.
- Cookies will continue to bake once taken out of the oven so let them rest for at least 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
