Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's national veterinary technician week! So give all your pet nurses a hug, because they work hard to help make your dog/cat/horse/goat/cow/snake/guinea pig feel better!  Sometimes as vets, we get busy trying to diagnose crazy illnesses (I diagnosed my SECOND case of Addison's in the past 3 months, what?!) that we don't get to love on your pets.  That's why we have awesome staff who help us provide the TLC your pet needs to feel better, help restrain animals during exams, pull blood, run labwork, and take x-rays.  They work hard, often coming home bruised, bitten, scratched and smelling like who-knows-what, but still manage to come in the next day with a smile on their faces.  

I brought in cookies and pumpkin-ginger snap bites to the office as my little way of saying thanks to all our awesome vet techs.  A few of our vet techs are vegan or vegetarian, so I had a bit of a baking challenge.  Usually, I'd be all about adding 1/2 lb. of butter to make my chocolate chip cookies, but I had to do a little research on substitutes.  You can also make these gluten free by using gluten free flour (Ex, Bob Mill's).  I know most people, including myself, would skip over anything labeled vegan when it comes to desserts, but these came out perfectly chewy in the center and crispy on the edges. They do spread quite a bit, so make sure you space them out well on the baking sheet.  I found all these ingredients at HEB and didn't have to go to any specialty health stores.  Here's the recipe I came up with:

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
  • 1 c. coconut oil at room temp
  • 1/3 c. applesauce
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/4 c. sugar
  • 2 tbs. vanilla
  • 2 c. all purpose flour
  • 1/4 c. plus 1 1/2 tsp. flax seed
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 c. vegan chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Mini chips)
Directions
  1. In a medium bowl, mix together coconut oil, applesauce, salt, sugar, and vanilla.   In a separate large bowl, combine flour, flax seed and baking soda.
  2. Using a rubber spatula, gradually add wet ingredients to dry until grainy dough formed.  Fold in chocolate chips.  
  3. Use a melon baller, scoop dough onto Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing 1" apart.  Use the back of a flat measuring cup or glass to gently press down each cookie to form a disc shape.  
  4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.  Store in airtight container for up to 2 days.

add some icing between two of these, and you've got a cookie sandwich!


Julius says thank you, vet techs!

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