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Monday, June 4, 2012

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.

8 comments:

  1. I love choc chip cookies though we only occasionally had shop ones when growing up - only later did I realise this must be because my dad hates anything with choc chips in it! I am glad your childhood recipe works for you with a bit of tweaking - it makes it true comfort food!

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    1. Thanks Johanna, another reason for making these cookies was to stop my young man from spending his work money on the shop ones. Although these aren't really a healthy food, at least I know what went into them!

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  2. Chocolate chip biscuits can be deceptive I find - they should be easy, but are actually hard to get just right! It sounds like your latest batch worked beautifully and I may just tuck this away as a stand by for when my own biscuit craving hits :)

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    1. Thanks Kari, it's been so long since I made any so I had no idea there they could be difficult to get right. It's always great to get something right in the first couple of goes, there are recipes I have been working on for ages and still can't perfect.

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  3. I love a good cookie and yours look awesome!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by with such a lovely comment Spencer!

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  4. Ah, the elusive Perfect Choc Chip Cookie. There are so many recipes around, and I don't make them often enough to remember which ones I love and which were meh.

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    1. Thanks Theresa, like I said to Kari I had no idea there were good and bad recipes. I'm especially pleased to have posted the recipe after hearing this as I will know which one to make next time!

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