Ok, so, I made something vegan… on purpose. I know it sounds like a strange thing for me to do, being the dairy-loving, meat-eater that I am, but it is the kind of thing I would do in a heartbeat when dealing with allergies at school. It turns out that my oldest isn’t the only one with allergies in her class this year. The class allergies include nuts, eggs, and milk… okay, vegan recipes here I come. Thank goodness for the internet.

I learned that there are a bunch of easy to find chocolate chips out there without any milk. Costco’s Kirkland brand has a pretty good chocolate chip that falls into this category, although for more severe allergies you’ll have to find Dream Chocolate that is processed in an allergen free environment.

Now I have to thank the ladies at veganhousewives.com for being out there sharing. These are some tasty cookies with only one drawback for my family (see note at the bottom). They remind me of the Keebler SoftBake cookies I used to talk my dad into buying me. These cookies keep pretty well for a few days in a zipper bag.

A few notes about my version:

1. I say dark brown sugar because I think that extra bit of molasses helps the flavoring of the cookies.
2. I used Unsweetened Coconut Milk, rather than Almond or Soy Milk because I did not know if there were any other nut allergies other than my child and my oldest is sensitive to soy. I also didn’t want to over sweeten the dough. The unsweetened Coconut Milk is an acquired taste (like going from whole to skim milk), so if you plan on buying a half gallon for just a 1/4 cup, you may want to consider how else you will use it or consider buying sweetened or flavored alternative milk instead.
3. Follow the recipe about time if you want a chewy consistency. If you cook them longer, they may taste a bit more bland than the traditional homemade chocolate chip cookie you are used to, without getting a really great crunch. (Coconut oil has a really high burn temperature.)

This recipe makes about 16 nice sized cookies.

Down to the recipe…

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Coconut Oil (or other oil or Vegan Butter)
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Coconut Milk (Milk Alternative)
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Granulated Sea Salt
1 Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350deg. F.
2. Cream together sugar and oil. Once smooth and even, add milk alternative and vanilla. (It will not fully combine creating one even color, when mixing by hand.)
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Combine the wet & dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate morsels & any other mix-ins of your choosing.
5. Roll into small balls (the size of small meatballs) & place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes.

Enjoy.

Note: The only drawback of this recipe that my family has noticed is that it causes gas, particularly when you eat more than one cookie in a day. The more cookies, the greater the side effect. It may just be us, since we don’t eat a lot of processed foods or that we are used to dairy (not oil) in our baked goods. This recipe may not affect you like it affected us. I just didn’t think it would be responsible to share this tasty recipe, tell you how great it is, and not warn you about my personal experience. That’d be almost as bad as putting a five pound bag of sugar free gummy bears in a bowl in the breakroom at an office with a note saying, “I brought these to share with everyone.” We’re going to stick to eating only one a day when we make these.