Chocolate Chip Cookies

I lied. No blueberry spice crumb bars here today. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so I opted for a quick and delicious fix that I hadn't tried -- vegan chocolate chip cookies. They are delicious and comforting and homey, just as chocolate chip cookies should be. And, once again, I don't know why I am still surprised by this, they don't taste like they're missing a thing (i.e. butter or eggs). They're amazing. The girls who wrote Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (among other titles) deserve metals - many, many, metals - for they're amazing vegan recipes!!! Did I mention they took about 30 minutes from start to in-my-mouth?!

Picture courtesy of the old Olympus camera!

Chocolate Chip Cookies {adapted from VCIYCJ}
Makes two dozen two inch cookies or about 16 three inch cookies

1/2 brown sugar
1/4 white sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.