Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is simple, tasty, and much healthier than regular chocolate chip cookies. They are made of whole wheat pastry flour, so you are not consuming "empty" white flour calories. They have only 1/4 cup of sugar in the whole batch compared to 1 1/2 cups in the classic Nestle Toll House Recipe**.

I often make these cookies for non-vegans who are impressed by how tasty they are. A few years ago, I had an incentive in my classroom that resulted in my baking for them at the end of the week. These cookies were among their favorites!

One problem can be finding vegan chocolate chips. Whole Foods sells them guaranteed vegan. Trader Joe's used to sell a dairy free version. Last I checked they still don't have dairy added, but are not guaranteed dairy free.  You can also buy the Chocolate Dream Chocolate Chips at a health food store. Finally, some people (unfortunately I am not one of them) enjoy carob as a replacement for chocoalte. You can easily use carob chips in this recipe.





Cook Time:
Prep 8 minutes
Cook 10 minutes

Yield: 24 cookies

Recipe
2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 cup raw sugar (try to find a version that is finely ground. If you cannot, let the sugar sit in the milk for a few minutes to dissolve).
1/2 canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
1/3 cup soy or any non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2.Place the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Mix with a whisk  until well combined.
3. In a smaller bowl combine the sugar, oil, soy milk, and vanilla. Mix until well combined with a whisk.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a cookie spatula until the flour is completely mixed in.
5. Roll into small balls (about one inch) and place on parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Place the cookie tray on a cooking rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing cookies and placing them on a cooking rack.






**The Nestle Toll House Recipe yields about twice as many cookies. Therefore, to compare more equally Nestle's recipe would require about 3/4 cup of sugar to make the same number of cookies.

Leave a note to let me know how they turned out!