Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

A friend of mine posted this recipe on Facebook the other day, and as soon as I saw them I wanted to give them a try. I have made a number of vegan recipes, but by changing up ingredients in a standard recipe. My friend at work eats eggs, which makes baking for her a lot easier. These are truly vegan, with no eggs either. I haven’t used vegetable oil in a recipe, so I was intrigued.

This recipe, from King Arthur Flour, calls for bittersweet chocolate chips. I was curious about that, as I thought that even bittersweet chocolate would have some dairy. I looked at the chips linked to the recipe, and that particular brand was dairy free. The ones I had in my cupboard, of course, were not. I went to the store and bought dairy free chocolate chips. These are semi-sweet.

The dough must be refrigerated overnight. Sometimes you can get away with shortening the refrigeration, but not with these cookies. The dough is quite oily, even after refrigeration. I also learned that my freezer is not large enough for a baking sheet. When we bought a new refrigerator a couple of years ago, I made sure that a baking sheet would fit, but I hadn’t thought about the freezer. Oh well. While the dough is quite a different before baking, the cookies bake up to lovely cookies. They are soft but a little crispy around the edges; very nice!

Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups bittersweet* chocolate chips

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon water

 Sea salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and stir to coat. In a large mixer bowl, beat the sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and water on medium for two minutes. Add the flour mixture and stir on low just until the flour disappears into the dough. The dough will be very soft and somewhat oily. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

Drop the dough into the prepared baking sheets, about 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for ten minutes before baking; this will help the cookies retain their shape. Before baking, sprinkle the cookies with sea salt.

Bake for 12-13 minutes, until lightly browned along the edges. The cookies will not brown significantly. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from King Arthur Flour  

*Depending on the brand, the bittersweet chips may or may not contain dairy. Check the ingredients.