Easy vegan chocolate chip cookies

I am no baker, I mean it, You hear phrases like this thrown around by semi modest people all over every corner of the internet, the office, when you're people watching in a busy cafe on a moderately sunny mid-morning (just me?). But, I can tell you right now with my hand on my heart that I completely, thoroughly and utterly mean it. Baking is not my forte and this one of the only recipes I am capable of following with reasonable amounts of success. To prove it I'll let you in on a little secret: every time I have baked my boyfriend has preheated the oven for me and double checked I have all the right measurements. I am as close to hopeless in a kitchen setting as they come, I am an anxiety ridden wreck so when I say this is an easy vegan cookie recipe you can most definitely believe me. 

This is the first recipe I have attempted to publish on this blog and ever. On this note  I should also mention this is not a recipe I have made up, its from a slight mix of a couple Instagram recipes and loving it vegan inspo. 

What you will need- 

X 2 caps of vanilla extract 

X 50ml of any plant based milk (for me unsweetened soya works best but I bet oat is scrummy too) 

X 128g of brown sugar 

X 64g of any plant based butter (I suggest steering away from vitalite and using flora) 

X 192g of plain flour 

X 2 teaspoons of baking powder 

4-6 rows of chopped up vegan chocolate (Bournville is vegan and works great but whatever, use white if you're one of those sick people that actually likes white chocolate) 

Are you hungry yet?

How to-

Step one: if Covid has taught you one thing let it be this; WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS (pandemic or not this is non negotiable, hygiene is v important) 

Step two: Preheat oven to 180 degrees 

Step three: weigh out 128g of plain sugar and 64g of your chosen butter and mix together until the consistency is smooth and creamy, you may lose hope but this quickly reaches the smooth and creamy stage so fret not fair vegans, you shall prevail. 

Step four: Now take your chosen plant based milk (slight judgement if its almond, no offence), shake it slightly and then add 50ml to your sugar and butter. Immediately after this you want to take two cap fulls of vanilla extract and add that into the bowl and mix it all in. 

Step five: Take a separate mixing bowl and weigh out 192g of plain flour and then add two teaspoons of baking powder, mix the dry ingredients together and attempt not to get any on your what I can only assume to be incredibly second hand tee. Bonus points if you have the energy for an apron. 

Step six: take half of the bowl of dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) and mix that into the other bowl, I find folding along with stirring helps a lot. Then once that is all mixed in add the rest of the dry ingredients in but be warned- for some reason this always turns out different and sometimes I don't need the last little bit in the bowl so be careful with adding the dry ingredients in as some may be left over. If too dry, add a teeny extra splash of milk but be sparing with this 

Step seven: chop up all the chocolate you want but I do suggest keeping it to around four rows or so as it can be difficult to stir into the mixture and will also make the cookies a lot more sickly. Be generous but not too generous. Think JK Rowling sort of generous- she gave us Harry Potter but also immense transphobia and a lack of racial diversity. Once the chocolate is all chopped up to whichever size you desire (I suggest cutting each square roughly in half) then add it into the mix half at a time until all mixed in. 

Step eight: using your hands, take a chunk from the cookie mix and roll it into a ball then, place it onto a baking tray lined with a baking sheet and flatten it slightly. Keep going until all cookie mix has been used up, I typically make 10-12 cookies from this quantity of ingredients. 

At this point the mix should look like this

Step nine: take somewhat irresistible cookie loaded baking tray in hands protected by oven gloves and place in the preheated oven. Set timer for 12 minutes, 11 if you want them slightly softer and then...

Step ten: ENJOY YOUR VEGAN FRIENDLY COOKIES AND THE REST OF YOUR DAY YOU PLANT BASED PIXIE 

If you do try this recipe please let me know how they turn out either by commenting on this blog post or sending me pics on instagram, I'm @theverseofvenus