I love chocolate chip cookies. I love chocolate chip cookie dough even more. And in an honest, yet disgusting unveiling of my inner glutton, I love when you cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar together to make chocolate chip cookies. When I was a kid I used to try to steal dollops of the creamed mixture when my mom wasn’t looking. It was so good. I am glad I didn’t know about salmonella poisoning back then or the fat content of whole butter. Luckily with vegan baking, that salmonella is never a problem so yea… eat all the cookie dough you want! Also my brother is coming for Thanksgiving Dessert with his wife and my first and only nephew Baby Nolan and he (my brother) is a cookie monster, so I wanted to be able to make him chocolate chip cookies that I could also eat and so could any of my dairy intolerant family. My brother loves cookies so much I got him a replica cookie jar from our childhood for Christmas last year and it was not easy to find an owl cookie jar either! This will definitely be an experience thanks to my cookies 🙂

That being said here is my chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have been working on for ages. Every time I start I become uninspired by dry cookie dough (which every vegan can relate to due to the lack of eggs) and of course the ones that crumble or the ones that don’t taste quite right. These are not any of those. They are gooey and crunchy on the edges and melt until they are just thin enough but still soft inside. If you love cookies… you will also love me after you make this recipe.

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Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. 1 cup of earth balance organic buttery spread
2. 2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup
3. 3 flax eggs (3 tablespoons of water and 1 tbsp powdered flax per egg)
4. 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract (I use Penzey’s Mexican)
5. 1 and 1/4 cups of vegan sugar (try half brown sugar if you have it for a richer flavor)
6. 2.5 cups of all purpose unbleached flour
7. 1-2 teaspoons of salt (I use kosher)
8. 1 cup of vegan semisweet chocolate chips (I used Kirkland (Costco brand) this time instead of Whole Foods)

*Optional: 1 cup of walnuts or pecans

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MIXING TIME!

• Place all dry ingredients (except chocolate) in a medium to small bowl. Mix until well combined.
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• Cream butter and sugar together in a larger bowl with a mixer. Then place all wet ingredients into the bowl and mix until well combined.
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• If you have never made a flax egg all you do is place warm water in a bowl and pulverize flaxseeds in a coffee grinder until powdered and stir. It’s that easy.
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• Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until a dough forms. I use my hands but a mixer works well too.
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• Last toss in chocolate chips and any nuts and knead into the dough. It will be a little oily. 
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BAKE:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place a silpat or parchment on your baking sheet. These cookies WILL STICK OTHERWISE! This is very important.
• Once the oven is completely preheated, place balls of cookie dough on the silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets.
• Bake for 20-22minutes.
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• Remove let sit for 5-10minutes and then transfer to a cookie cooling rack.
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• Makes 3 dozen. Enjoy!
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FOOD IS LOVE.

The Hippie Gypsy