Lately, I’ve become a bit obsessed with vegan chocolate chip cookies. This isn’t a new thing– last year I posted a recipe for vegan chocolate chip cookies that I still dream about, but my desire to make a) the best vegan chocolate chip cookies and b) the best healthy vegan chocolate chip cookies (a very different goal indeed) has become an unbearable itch lately. Also, my diet has shifted from 30% vegan chocolate microwave cake to 30% vegan chocolate chip cookies, which is fine.
Last summer, my friend Jackie texted me about the “BEST chocolate chip cookie ever” that her housemate’s boyfriend made. “Oh, and it’s vegan,” she added, and I knew I needed to find this recipe for myself. The recipe turned out to be these vegan chocolate chip cookies from America’s Test Kitchen. The recipe intrigued me for several reasons: first, they didn’t contain aquafaba which is practically unheard of in the latest generation of vegan chocolate chip cookies, and second, they contained almond butter to add a “toffee-like richness”. I was sold.
A few weeks ago I had finished my first semester as a graduate student and was lounging around at home with nothing to do for the first time in months. I decided that then was as good a time as ever to finally test out the recipe that Jackie raved so much about. Verdict: They are really freakin good, especially warm with a scoop of almond milk ice cream. The almond butter adds a really nice subtle flavor, and I’m even tempted to go back to my own vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe and revise it to contain a bit of almond butter. Without aquafaba, the cookies lose a touch of their soft chewiness when they cool down, so I do recommend eating these cookies asap, which really shouldn’t be a problem. Finally, in the future I would use chocolate disks or a chopped dark chocolate bar, because I’ve always found thinner chocolate pieces to really enhance cookies.
Since coming back to Cambridge and beginning my next semester, I’ve started working on another goal: the best healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’ve made a couple recipes so far, which I will share soon! Will they contain garbanzo beans? Oat flour? Dates? Check in later to find out!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 6 tbs water
- 1/3 cup no-stir almond butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup chocolate chips or chunks
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.
- In a new bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, coconut oil, water, almond butter, and vanilla extract.
- Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 1 – 4 hours. After this time, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours, or frozen for a few months.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and portion out the dough to 16 pieces (about 3 tbs each) on 2 parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, switching top and bottom sheet after 6 minutes. The cookies should just beginning to lightly brown on the edges, but appear underbaked otherwise. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on the sheets [this is when they will finish baking].
- Once cool, serve with almond milk or non dairy ice cream! (P.S. While the recipe calls for waiting them to fully cool, there was no way I was missing out on warm cookies. They were still slightly underbaked in the middle and tasted amazing!)
Chomps of Life 