Pick the most likely scenario:
- Your kid hands you a crumpled reminder from the teacher that you signed up to bring snack tomorrow. Yes, tomorow. It’s already 9:00 at night, and you are already in your PJs, ready to hit the sack before starting everything all over again tomorrow. You slap your forehead (or knock it against the wall a few times) and stumble to the kitchen, yank open the refrigerator… and just as you suspected: no butter, no eggs. What?! How are you supposed to whip up a snack without such basic ingredients as those?!
- Your kid wants to have his best friend over for a play date, and you want to provide a special snack. Problem: kid’s best friend is deathly allergic to dairy and eggs. What to do?
- Your kid is allergic to dairy and eggs and you hate throwing money out the door for safe snacks, so you want to make them yourself. But how do you make cookies without eggs or butter?!
(Notice how they all start with “your kid”? Amazing how those little creatures shake our lives up, huh?)
No matter what the problem is, the solution is the same: these Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yes, happy. And No, I didn’t give them that name, but I like it, so I’ll keep it.
“But what do they taste like?” I hear you ask as I watch your lip curl in mild disgust? “Cardboard?”, you add with a sneer.
It may surprise you to learn that this is now by far my most favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. Yes, I said ever. In bold with italics. Because as many different chocolate chip cookie recipes as I have tried, none of them has ever come out with quite this perfection of texture, taste, shape and substance. Who needs butter and eggs? Not me.
Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 1 cup chocolate chips*
- 1 cup unrefined sugar (sucanat, turbinado, or coconut sugar)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil or palm shortening*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Whisk together dry ingredients; add chocolate chips and stir well.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the sugar and oil or shortening, vanilla, and water.
- Make a well in the center of dry ingredients, and pour in the liquid ingredients. Stir until just mixed. If you need to add a bit more liquid, do so 1 or 2 tsp at a time.
- Use a tablespoon to form the cookies and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. They’ll still be slightly soft on top.
- Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
This is a very QUICK cookie recipe, perfect for those occasions when you need a snack NOW!
It’s also super EASY as it uses a very basic dry-wet-dump mixing method (I know it has a more official name but can’t think of it at the moment. Do enlighten me if you happen to know what it’s called when you stir together the wet and dry ingredients separately, then add them together.).
No butter and no eggs makes it pretty CHEAP, although I’ll admit the oil used instead of the butter can get pricey. It’s still a pretty inexpensive cookie recipe.
It’s still a cookie, so it’s not exactly health food, but it is HEALTHY in the sense that you make it yourself, from scratch, with wholesome ingredients. Still an indulgence, but a healthy one.
*Ingredient Notes:
- I’ve used non-wheat flours with great success in this recipe. Oat and/or spelt flour is my favorite, but if you need to avoid gluten too, I suggest a blend with brown rice flour or sorghum flour as the base. Here’s a great recipe for your own gluten-free flour blend.
- For completely vegan and allergen-free cookies, use Enjoy Life chocolate chips which are free of both dairy and soy products.
- Palm shortening is my favorite oil to use in cookies, and Tropical Traditions is my favorite brand; when it goes on sale, it can be cheaper than the store-bought version and it’s very high quality. Coconut oil also works well in this recipe, but note that it creates more of a crisp cookie. I have even used extra virgin olive oil in a pinch! Canola oil works, but is not the healthiest choice of oil because of free radicals and the fact that it’s typically genetically modified.
For another vegan wheat-free cookie recipe, check out my Vegan Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies!
