I love chocolate chip cookies. Who doesn’t, right? But sometimes creaming the butter, measuring brown and white sugar, cracking eggs–it’s just too much to deal with, even for me–and I love to cook. Also, sometimes, my daughter, who is heavily into the “do it myself” stage, wants to make cookies herself. She’s pretty good in the kitchen, but the traditional recipe definitely requires adult help. — I’ve been experimenting with vegan baked goods lately and I came across an easy (as in a 6-year-old can make them alone while I read on the couch in the other room–except for the oven part, of course!) and delicious (as in my husband had no idea they were vegan until we told him) recipe. A quick suggestion for vegan baking (and all baking I guess): use the best possible vanilla extract that you can find. It really makes a huge difference. Also, for these cookies, make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. I don’t know the scientific reason why, but it makes them better!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups unbleached flour (I usually use 1 cup white flour and 1 cup either whole wheat or spelt flour)
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
cinnamon to taste (optional)
vegan chocolate or carob chips – put in as many as you like (Since we are not actually vegans, I usually use regular chocolate chips)
%uFFFD-1 cup raw sugar (depending on how sweet you want them)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon best quality vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1
1.Preheat Oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (if you choose). Add chips. Make a well in the center and set aside.
3. In a medium size bowl mix sugar and oil very well. Add the vanilla and then the water. Mix it well.
4. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to.
5. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets (top to bottom,and 180 degree rotation). Bake another 4 minutes and check them.
6. Take cookies out when they are still a bit gooey. They harden up when they are out of the oven.
