Saturday 25 April 2015

Vegan Double Chocolate Cookies


Recently I've been cooking more and more vegan food at home, and am loving it. I haven't bought cheese since December… and if you're someone who knows me, you know how big of a deal that is.

Two days ago I attempted vegan baking for the first time and was extremely skeptical. It's just that I hadn't tried to make vegan cookies before so I wasn't really sure how well these would actually turn out. But in fact, they turned out great!

They are delicious… very soft, chewy and moist.

Here is the recipe if you'd like to give them a shot.

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil (this replaces butter)
1/3 cup almond or soy milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp chia seeds (ground chia is better-- this replaces egg)
3 tbsp water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup vegan (dark) chocolate chips
sea salt for topping


Directions

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or non-slip silicone mats and preheat oven to 350F.
2. If using chia seeds instead of ground chia, crush them using a mortar & pestle or a food processor. They may not look ground-down, but as long as you break a bunch open it should be good enough. Add the water and let sit for 5-10 minutes
      **Note: as the chia sits in the water, it will begin to form a gel that will resemble an egg-white.
3. In the meantime, with an electric mixer, mix together the coconut oil, milk, brown sugar and white sugar. Keep mixing for about 2 minutes.
4. Add in the chia mixture and vanilla, and mix well. 
5. Add in 1 cup of the flour, all of the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
6. Add in the remaining flour and the chocolate chips and mix until just incorporated.
7. Spoon the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets (the size of cookie is your choice) & sprinkle with sea salt.
8. Stick them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
9. Remove from freezer and bake for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet before removing and storing in an air-tight container.