Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wow, I was busy in the kitchen all day yesterday, working this recipe for Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.  It took awhile, but I think I finally got it right.  The vegan in the house will have to taste test them and let me know how I did, AND believe me, HE WILL LET ME KNOW, hahaha!  There are so many ways to make vegan chocolate chip cookies when you look up recipes online, but I chose to work it myself, with some new ingredients I found, while perusing the organic/vegan aisles at the grocery store.  You never know what you will find when taking time to look around, especially in a big grocery store.

I pulled out my ingredients, lined them all up and got busy.

Well, well, well, would you look at this new product I found, The Neat Egg.  You can use this to replace eggs in baking, but you can't cook it for breakfast, sorry.

I combined the almond meal, flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Creamed the butter, added the sugars, egg replacement, vanilla and meal/flour mix.

These are vegan chocolate chips, a little pricey but worth it if you're a vegan!

Mix them all in and drop your dough by teaspoon on a baking sheet.

Pop them in the oven and when they come out they look just like your old fashioned favorite cookie.

See!

I cool mine on a paper towel covered cooling rack, it helps absorb any extra oils.  I do this when I make regular chocolate chip cookies too.

Looking good!  I am sure he'll have a tall glass of almond milk with these for dunking.

And, they passed his inspection, half of them are gone already!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups Almond Meal, I used Trader Joe's

1 cup unbleached white flour (see note 1)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Vegan Egg Replacement to equal 2 eggs, I used The Neat Egg (see note 2)

1 cup vegan butter, I use Earth's Balance

3/4 cup pure granulated cane sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups vegan chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together the almond meal, unbleached flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.  In a smaller bowl, follow directions on the back of The Neat Egg bag for mixing 2 "eggs", or see note at the bottom of this recipe. To make it from ground flax meal and water see note at bottom of this page. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter.  Add both sugars and continue to cream. Add the "egg" mixture, and blend it in. Add vanilla.  Add the flour mixture slowly until all is combined, scraping bowl as you are mixing. Turn off mixer, mix the chips in with a wooden spoon or spatula, until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Drop by teaspoonful onto baking sheets 2-3 inches apart.  Bake, turning sheets once during baking, until the edges are lightly browned and cookies are firmed up in the center.  Remove from oven, cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks covered with paper towels.  The paper towels help to absorb any excess oils from the cookies.  Cool completely before storing in airtight container. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

NOTE 1: Depending on the type of almond meal/flour you are using, your cookie dough may be a little too wet.   I used a different brand of almond meal/flour (Bob's Red Mill) and discovered they do not bake the same, hence the adjustment of the amount of flour to be used.

NOTE 2:  The Neat Egg is a new product I found in Wegman's while browsing around the organic/vegan aisles. It's an all natural vegan egg substitute, but can not be used as a stand alone egg, so you can't scrambled them up.  It is a combination of ground/powdered chia seeds and garbanzo beans (chick peas).  So here is the mix for Neat Egg replacement:

2 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon Neat Egg mix + Mix well with a spoon = 1 egg

If you are using Flax Meal, here is the mix for that:

6 tablespoons of water + 2 tablespoons ground flax meal + Mix well with a spoon = 2 eggs


NOTE 3:  Test bake one cookie on a baking sheet to be sure the almond meal/flour and unbleached flour mix is right.  The cookie should not spread too much.  If the cookie comes out too flat add more unbleached flour.