I have been craving home-made chocolate chip cookies since Sunday. Unfortunately, the universe has been against me in my endeavor to make chocolate chip cookies. First, I had no chocolate chips, so I went out and bought some, only to arrive home and find that I had no butter (or even margarine!). I gave up for Sunday and decided to make them Monday instead. Lo and behold I find that I now have no eggs (I made quiche yesterday). I also have no vanilla extract. Oh, and while we're at it, I have no electric beaters (or even the antique ones that you crank by hand). WHY ME?
This series of unfortunate events (which is evidence that the universe is trying to make it all but impossible for me to destroy myself on an overdose of cookie goodness) led to this recipe, which was originally from the back of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip bag, but is now a completely different recipe altogether!
This dubious attempt at using whatever substitutes I had on hand seemed doomed to fail at first, but when I tried the cookie dough I knew I had created a delicious masterpiece! What a wonderful way to end a Monday.
Here's the recipe:
Accidentally Vegan (Almost) Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
*Disclaimer: If you are a strict vegan, technically the chocolate chips are not certified vegan, but the rest of the cookie is, so you can easily substitute vegan chocolate chips!
1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
1 cup organic white (unbleached) flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vegan butter (I use earth balance)
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar (Madhava)
1 tsp peppermint extract (or vanilla if you are not into peppermint)
1 banana (mashed up)
1 tbsp molasses (organic unsulphured)
10 oz. Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts (or more or none if desired)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour and baking soda and set aside.
In a small bowl, mash the banana and mix with molasses to create an egg substitute. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and "butter" until creamy. Beat in banana "egg" and peppermint extract.
Add flour mixture to the wet bowl and combine.
Drop cookie dough on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-11 min.
Allow to cool before eating. Cookies may look moist, but when they cool they will be deliciously chewy and just slightly crispy on the edges!
Serves: I made almost 3 dozen medium/small cookies with this recipe.
