Home-style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Any vegans missing that classic homemade chocolate chip cookie indulgence?  Well, now you can indulge without need for the dairy, eggs, white sugar, or even refined flour if you choose.  These cookies can even be made wheat-free substituting spelt flour for wheat flour.  One other bonus: these are super-easy to make!

Home-style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 18-24 regular sized cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (see note)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon Black strap molasses
1 TB pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips


Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2.  In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
3.  Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined.
4.  In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined.
5.  Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not over-mix).
6.  Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little. 7.  Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out).
8.  Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack.


Note:  These cookies freeze well after they are baked.  What I like to do is make extra cookie batter, place on cookie sheets, and freeze instead of baking.  Then take them out of the freezer, and put into a plastic freezer bag.  Then, whenever you crave a fresh-baked cookie, you don't have to worry about making the dough! 

Note: Unbleached all-purpose flour or spelt flour produces a more classic cookie taste and texture, but you can use whole-wheat pastry flour and still get a delicious cookie. For a wheat-free version, use spelt flour, but add an extra 2-4 tablespoons of the spelt flour to the dry mix (the amount needed varies with brand of spelt flour and whether you are using a refined spelt flour versus a less processed spelt flour).

Note: If, as you are mixing together your batter it appears quite floury and thick, simply mix together a couple of teaspoons more canola and maple syrup and incorporate it into the batter. Sometimes humidity, type of flour used, and other factors can affect the density of the batter and so a touch more liquid may be needed.