The Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’re ever after a recipe to convince your non vegan friends that vegans don’t just eat rabbit food, this Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is it. These cookies are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. They’re so creamy and delicious, and they even err ever so slightly on the side of healthy. Sort of. As in, I wouldn’t eat 10 of the in a day… well actually, you might, they’re that good. Okay, so you probably shouldn’t eat 10 in a day, but they’re a lot better for you than most!
The secret to this recipe is cashew butter, and lots of it. I absolutely love cashew butter as a butter replacement in baking because it’s so creamy and smooth. I find that it acts in a similar way to vegan butter in recipes, but it has much healthier fats. Personally, I also believe if tastes a lot better!
To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
I make this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe in a food processor, but you could easily use an electric hand mixer instead. The dough can be quite thick, though, so be careful.
I have tried this recipe with a number of combinations of nut butters. My favourite is half cashew and half almond butter. I’ve also made them with peanut butter for a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
Add nut butter, sugar, vanilla and chia egg to a processor or mixing bow. Process or mix on medium speed until fully combined and smooth.
Add flour and baking powder and mix until it resembles thick crumbs. The mix may appear a little dry at this point, but don’t add any liquid.
Add the chocolate chips and process until a dough forms.
Roll dessertspoonfuls into a ball with your hands and press down into a cookie shape. Place on a prepared tray. If the dough becomes sticky in your hands, I find it helpful to keep your hands a little wet.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes until browned. Turn onto a cooling rack. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
Substitutions
Nut Free: If you can’t have nuts, you could replace the nut butter in this recipe with either a vegan butter substitute or a seed butter. As some seed butters are quite bitter (sunflower seed especially) you may need to add extra sweetener to balance out the flavour.
Gluten Free: To make this recipe gluten free, replace the wholemeal flour with a gluten free blend. You could also replace some of the flour with almond meal, but I don’t believe the cookies would work with all almond meal. I haven’t tried this, though, so if you do I’d love to hear about it below.
If you’re looking for more delicious chocolate chip recipes, try my Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies, or the super indulgent Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie.
Hint: I always have a tiny bit of cookie dough leftover when I make these. If you do as well, you can roll it into small balls and freeze. These frozen cookie dough balls work really well stirred through vanilla ice cream for your own cookie dough icecream!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Tbs Chia Seeds
- 3 Tbs Water
- 1 cup Nut Butter Cashew, almond or peanut butter
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tspn Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Wholemeal Plain Flour
- 1 tspn Baking Powder
- 1/3 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips or 2 Tbs Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Make up a chia egg by adding chia seeds and water to a jug and stir. Allow to sit for a few minutes to let the chia seeds gel up in the water.
- Add nut butter, sugar, vanilla and chia egg to a food processor or mixing bowl. Process or mix on medium speed of an electric hand mixer until combined and the sugar has dissolved.
- Sift in flour and baking powder. Process or mix until it forms thick crumbs.
- Add chocolate chips and process or gently mix until it forms a dough. It may seem dry to start with, but it should come together to form a dough. If the mix is too dry you could add 1 Tbs of plant based milk, but do not add too much or the dough will become sticky and lose its texture.
- Roll a dessertspoonful of dough into a ball. Press between your palms to form a cookie shape and place on the prepared baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake for approximately 10 – 15 minutes, until golden brown. The cookies harden further as they cool, so they won't come out of the oven completely solid. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
- Leftover cookies (if you have any!) can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge, or frozen.
