Chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookies were my favourite biscuits when I was growing up. They were so simple to bake and I used to love pinching as many chocolate chips as possible without being caught when my mothers back was turned. A few weeks ago when I had a craving for some bikkies, I pulled out my copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking and gave the chocolate chip cookie recipe a try.

It was the first recipe I had made from this cookbook that I've been unsatisfied with and my main gripe was the cookies were way too oily. I didn't want to give up on finding a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and remembered that I had scribbled down the one from my childhood during a phone conversation with my mum many years ago. When I tracked it down amongst my recipe clippings I suspected that a vegan adaptation of this recipe would work out to my liking.

It seemed like an easy recipe to veganise by substituting dairy free margarine for butter and using an egg replacer yet it wasn't all smooth sailing. After mixing in the flour, the dough seemed too firm so I quickly added in a bit of soy milk to rectify the situation. The recipe has been written with the soy milk added earlier as that is how I will make it next time around.

The young man is a big fan of chocolate chip cookies too which isn't surprising as he has such a sweet tooth. He preferred this version over the ones from the Joy of Vegan Baking so I'll be sticking with it in the future. I'm not 100% certain where the original recipe came from although I am fairly sure it was from a Women's Weekly cookbook, most likely the Beautiful Biscuits volume.

Chocolate chip cookies (Probably adapted from Women's Weekly Beautiful Biscuits)
Makes 20-24

1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
125g dairy free margarine
1 egg replacer (I used Orgran)
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (I used Sweet William brand)
olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cream the sugars together with the dairy free margarine in a large bowl. Prepare the egg replacer according to the package directions in a small bowl then pour this into the large bowl. Drizzle in the vanilla essense and soy milk and beat until combined. Add the bicarb of soda, salt and plain flour and beat until combined. Fold through the chocolate chips.

Prepare a large baking tray by lining it with baking paper and spraying lightly with olive oil. Take heaped dessert spoons of the mixture, roll them into balls and place onto the baking tray. Allow ample room for them to spread. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cookies to sit for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.