cookie for you!

As I had promised myself I would, I attempted chocolate chip cookies this weekend (read: found yet another excuse to wear my new apron, this time with a skirt. take that, donna reed). I actually tried two different recipes because one) they were different enough to use as a measuring stick of what mixture of ingredients work, two) I actually already had all the ingredients with the exception of chocolate chips in my pantry (that would be a first, ladies and gentlemen), and three) I really didn't want to work on my dissertation.

One batch came out pretty well, and I've posted the recipe below in case any of you have some extra blackstrap molasses that you just need to use up, and, really, who doesn't? The successful recipe came from the Vive le Vegan cookbook (the author has a handy blog viveleveganrecipes.blogspot.com) and other than not being as chewy as I like my cookies, it seems to be a good go-to recipe. It was super easy and super quick to make and the 'miso has yet to complain.

The other recipe I tried was from the Vegan Sourcebook and it involved rolled oats, which I thought for some reason might make the cookies more chewy like regular oatmeal raisin cookies, but instead it made them more crappy like my disasterous vegan oatmeal raisin cookies.

I'm beginning to notice that vegan blogs and cookbooks written in the past five years by people around my age have pretty simple recipes that yield tasty results, while the recipes in the more 'educational' (or 'brain-washing', either way) books on veganism produce dishes that are both unattractive and inedible. It's like they want to make that hurdle to vegan elitism all the more painful by forcing you to spend lots of money on obscure ingredients that, when combined, really make you notice that you are eating healthy vegan food. Why would you do that when there is an entire book (BOOK) on vegan cupcakes. Why?

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (see note below for wheat-free version) (I actually used whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
1⁄4 cup unrefined sugar
1⁄4 tsp sea salt
1⁄3 cup pure maple syrup
1⁄4 tsp blackstrap molasses
1 - 1 1⁄2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup organic canola oil (a little generous 1/4 cup)
1⁄3 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). In a bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup with the molasses and vanilla, then stir in the oil until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry, along with the chocolate chips, and stir through until just well combined (do not overmix). Place large spoonfuls of the batter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a little. Bake for 11 minutes, until just golden (if you bake for much longer, they will dry out). Let cool on the sheet for no more than 1 minute (again, to prevent drying), then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes 8-10 large cookies.