chocolate chip banana muffins
This next post is from Nicole, a friend and vegan blogger who I was able to meet last year when she was visiting Los Angeles. She’s a great girl and not only does she cook up some tasty vegan food, she also takes amazing photos. Luckily she’s kind enough to share a recipe with us. It looks delicious. (more…)
chocolate chip cookie heaven
Once upon a time I thought I had found the way to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever but my quest for delicious cookies continued. The problem with my early attempts was that it relied heavily on refrigerating the dough overnight which just doesn’t work for me. When I want cookies, I want them immediately. Not to mention, I found the results inconsistent, every batch coming out a little differently. I’ll be the first to admit that cookies are not my forte, but that’s really a result of me liking cookies more than any other treat, chocolate chip cookies especially. I just have no time for sub-par cookies in my life, so I generally wouldn’t even try to make them if I didn’t think the result was what I wanted.
Then this magical recipe entered my life. It’s not only the easiest thing ever, but it also doesn’t include any egg replacer that causes so many cookie mishaps. I messed around with this quite a lot but it is the simplest version that works the best.
There is a problem with these cookies though, you will not be able to stop eating them. They’re crispy and amazing. When still warm, they have the perfect chewiness. These are my dream cookies.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 c Earth Balance
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c granulated sugar
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
chocolate chips (I use about 6 oz)
Preheat oven to 300°
Mix EB and sugars with electric mixer until they are combined and have a sort of gelatinous, smooth texture. Add in the water and vanilla and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until you have a very sticky dough. Be careful not to over mix. Add in your chocolate chips. Spoon onto a cookie sheet in globs about the size of a tablespoon. They will spread out so don’t worry about the shape.
Cook for 14 minutes. Make sure you let them cool for at least 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack, or eating.
Enjoy!
The best chocolate chip cookies ever?
I’m sure that many of you read and discussed that article from the NYTimes about how to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I had come across a bunch of posts about it awhile back, digested the information, and filed it in the back of my head. It seems that the standout point is refrigerating the cookie dough. The problem with that is, at least for me, is that if you want to make cookies, you want them right at that moment, not a couple of days later.Honestly, I think chocolate chip cookies may be my favorite baked good. Chocolate chip cookies can vary so much though. It’s not just that they’re good or bad, but they can be chewy or crunchy or super sweet or a million other things.
So I made some cookies the other night, using the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I baked one batch but still had quite a bit leftover and threw it in the fridge for later. I never got a chance to bake the rest until two days later. When I took the dough out of fridge I remembered that refrigerated dough was supposed to be the key to amazing cookies, but as I scooped it onto the cookie sheet I was skeptical. The dough seemed a bit dried out even though I had covered it. Despite my faith in vegan recipes, I thought maybe the benefits of these tips may only apply to non-vegan ingredients.
I was so wrong. This batch of cookies was without a doubt the best I’ve ever made. Personally I thought they were at least twice as good as the batch made from the same dough that wasn’t refrigerated. They spread out just perfectly to make them the perfect balance of chewiness and crunchiness. They had the quality of tasting a tiny bit like a sugar cookie with chocolate chips, which I love.
So yes…BEST COOKIES EVER.
