Usually when I hear the words vegan and gluten free next to the words chocolate chip cookie I’m either prepared to pay five times more or taste something truly horrible. Sometimes I simply prepare myself for both outcomes because eating soy, dairy, and gluten free can be a real bitch.
Thankfully I love my research and after a particularly long night of pouring through vegan and gluten free blogs I discovered there is an easy way to bake my favorite recipes with substitutions. I was all sorts of skeptical, but I was also craving chocolate chip cookies, so I pulled Mr. MVP to the VW for some provisions and gave my old chocolate chip cookie recipe a gluten free and vegan make-over.
Before you beeline to the kitchen, here is what you need to know about substitutions:
- When a recipe calls for an egg you can use flaxseed, applesauce, water, banana, or pumpkin. Check out this handy guide.
- When a recipe needs flour, simply replace the regular flour with a gluten free flour mix like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. There is no need to add xanthan gum. In fact, some gluten intolerant people are allergic to xanthan gum and don’t even realize it.
- When a recipe needs butter you can, to the horror of my late Grandmother use margarine, or you can use Spectrum Naturals organic palm fruit oil shortening. There is a stigma attached to palm oil, but Spectrum Naturals is sustainably harvested and I feel really comfortable baking with it.
Your ingredients are fairly straightforward:
- 1 cup gluten free flour mix
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup Spectrum Naturals organic palm fruit oil shortening
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla *gluten free*
- 1 tablespoon organic ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
You will also need a mixer, a medium bowl, a stirring tool, a sheet pan and parchment paper.
The very first thing you will need to do is turn your oven on to 350 degrees so it has time to preheat.
Now, we are going to make our egg replacement with the flaxseed and water.
Take your flaxseed and measure one tablespoon into a small cup.
Add three tablespoons of water to the flaxseed. It will look murky, but don’t worry.
Stick a spoon in the container and give the whole brown mess a quick stir and then put your flaxseed on the counter to rest. Trust me, just leave it be.
Now, in the medium bowl add your gluten free flour.
Also add in your baking soda and salt. Mix your dry ingredients together.
Place your dry ingredients next to your flaxseed. It will be tempting, but don’t fuss with the flaxseed, remember it’s resting.
There really is no dainty way to measure palm fruit oil shortening, so however works best for you measure 1/2 cup and place it in the bowl of your mixer.
Next measure your sugars and place each in the bowl with your shortening.
On a medium speed cream the sugars and shortening together until smooth.
Maybe about 20 to 30 seconds.
This is the end result.
Add in your gluten free vanilla.
Now you can stir your flaxseed. It will be thick on the bottom with a layer of water on the top. Simply mix it up and pour it all in the bowl of your mixer.
Turn your mixer on medium speed and whip everything until it is well combined.
Your dry ingredients need to gradually be added to your wet ingredients. How you decide to do this is up to you. I like to turn my mixer on and dose 1/4 of the mixture until it is completely mixed.
The dry ingredients should incorporate exactly like normal cookies. If they start off looking crumbly, do not panic, the texture will even out.
This is 3/4 of the way through the flour incorporation.
Finished!
We use Enjoy Life chocolate because it’s dairy and soy free. You can buy this vegan chocolate at most supermarkets.
The last step before baking is to add in your chocolate. I could have used the mixer for this step, but I wasn’t thinking.
Your dough should look and feel just like normal cookie dough, so it is very easy to work with.
Roll your dough into balls, or if you like just scoop it out in one tablespoon size lumps on a parchment covered baking pan. This cookie dough is really not picky.
Slide your pan in the oven for ten to twelve minutes at 350 degrees.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for one minute before transferring them to a cooling rack. These chocolate chip cookies taste just like the original and because they are straight from your very own oven come with none of the sticker shock of the bakery.
Once the cookies have cooled completely you can store them in an airtight container for up to five days or in the freezer for six months. Enjoy!
About The Author
Nicole
Member of Team VP, knitter and Mama to Blue and Franks. Life, is bloody good.
