February 1, 2010

CJ’s Thick and Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I have a lot of vegan friends that struggle finding sweets to eat. So, I started researching zines to find recipes that I could modify to come up with yummy vegan desserts. This is the recipe that I came up with for vegan chocolate chip cookies.


I struggle with a constant battle of: heathlier product vs tastier product. I’ve heard so many terrible things about hydrogenated oils and trans fats that I avoid them as much as possible in my life and in my baking. While this is my tried and true go-to recipe for thick and chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies, I do prefer the taste of the cookies when I used ingredients that contain trans fat and hydrogenated oils.

The next time I make these cookies I am going to add a bit of applesauce to see if it will add some moisture back in to the cookies. I still love this recipe and the cookies always turn out great, but using the other products I always had that big eyed question-y look after someone would take the first bite, immediately followed by, “are these really vegan!”


Ingredients:
2 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

¾ cup sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
½ cup veg shortening (I like Spectrum, because it is trans fat free)
½ cup room temp vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance, because it is also trans fat free)
2 tblsp + 1 ½ tsp of water
1 tsp vanilla extract

12 oz vegan chocolate chips

Procedure:
Sift together and set aside dry ingredients.
Cream together the remaining ingredients. The consistency should almost feel broken. Slowly add the dry ingredients until well incorporated.

Then add the chocolate chips and nuts if you would like them.

Ball the cookies and bake at 325 degrees for 13 minutes or until light and golden brown.

Should yield between 18-24 cookies depending on how big you like them.

3 comments:

  1. Love the blog!

    Have you ever heard of the Alternative Baking Company? They sell vegan cookies (and some wheat-free) cookies. I love the snickerdoodle, but haven't tried their chocolate chip. Thought it might help you for "research".

    http://www.alternativebaking.com/

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  2. Hi CJ--I am making these this weekend. What did you decide about adding applesauce? Or is this the recipe you follow??

    Hugs & you rock the sweets,
    Erica

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  3. I decided to just use crisco. While they do use partially hydrogenated oils, they don't have trans fat in their shortening. Everything in moderation, I suppose

    The applesauce didn't do much for the texture or moisture level.

    Let me know how they turn out!

    CJ

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