Prep time: 20 minutes (it took me 3o minutes with Jensen helping!)
Clean up time: less than 5 minutes
Makes about 10 small cookies
Did someone say cookies? Since I went plant-based almost seven years ago I’ve tried many cookie recipes. Although there are some great recipes out there, this one from Deliciously Ella is by far my favourite. It tastes like a traditional cookie, crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle, has only six ingredients plus a little salt to bring out the chocolate flavour, and is very easy to put together. No worry about over mixing, no letting the dough set, and no complicated ingredients. I hope you enjoy these amazing cookies as much as we do, we’re lucky if a double batch lasts as long as three days in our house!
INGREDIENTS:
25g coconut oil
85g coconut sugar
100g plain flour (we use gluten-free)
1 tsp baking powder
sprinkling sea salt
35g almond milk
60g dark chocolate
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 190°c, fan setting.
Melt the coconut oil over a low heat, ensuring it never comes to the boil or else it’ll taste burnt. Once melted, remove from the heat and leave to cool a little - you want it to reach room temperature, but still be in liquid form.
In a large bowl, mix the coconut sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, until there are no lumps.
Pour in the almond milk and cooled coconut oil and mix well until a thick mixture forms - I find it easiest to do this part by hand.
Roughly chop the dark chocolate chunks, and bring the cookie dough together using your hands.
Shape the dough into six balls.
Place the balls onto a baking tray, leaving at least 3cm between each ball (as they will expand).
Bake for 10 minutes until golden.
Once cooked, leave the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes - during this time they will harden.
Ingredient and Preparation Tips:
-I always double this recipe. In fact I’ve never made it without doubling! The recipe makes six larges cookies, that wouldn’t last an afternoon in our house. If you double and also make the cookies a bit smaller you can get 18-20 reasonable sized cookies. I haven’t noticed a difference in baking time either. They can burn easily at the end though, so keep an eye on them when baking.
-I double all the ingredients except for the salt. I looked up doubling baking powder and there was math involved with figuring out how much to use. I took the plunge and straight doubled and it was fine.
-I measure the coconut oil in to a mug and then microwave it to melt it. It takes about 30-45 seconds. It can then cool a little while you get the rest of the ingredients together.
-I’ve made the cookies with plain baking flour and gluten free and both turned out great. For the gluten free version I used about a 70/30 split of buckwheat flour and rice flour. The gluten free cookies were a bit denser but still tasted amazing.
-Coconut sugar: is made from the sugary fluid that circulates a coconut plant - coconut palm sap. The fluid is collected and then dried creating the coconut sugar. It doesn’t taste as sweet as regular sugar, is less processed, and retains some trace mineral content. It is still high in calories and definitely not a health food, but a better alternative to regular table sugar. This article is full of great information if you are looking to learn a little more.
-The recipe does call for a lot of sugar but since it’s coconut sugar the end result isn’t too sweet.
-I’ve always used soy or oat milk instead of almond milk (I’m not a big fan of almond milk) and it hasn’t made a difference. Measure the milk quantity out separately. The first time I made these cookies I poured the milk into the bowl on the scales and of course added too much. This is probably obvious to most people, but to someone like me with no instincts in the kitchen it wasn’t!
-I’ve also use slightly less chocolate than it says. The full amount is quite a lot and can be a bit too much (did I actually just type that!). When doubling the recipe I use 80-100gms and you still get many delicious chunks of chocolate.
-You don’t need to press the cookies down before baking, they spread by themselves while cooking. Making them a bit smaller also helps them not to spread into each other.
-I also found it was easier to shape the cookies with wet hands. Again probably obvious to most, but it’s a trick I’ve recently learnt that has been very helpful!
Again I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do. They aren’t loaded with nourishment but they are a simple, plant-based whole foods treat. They are in regular rotation in our house and as the ingredients are so simple we always have enough on hand to whip up a batch when we’re craving something sweet. And let’s be honest, these days, in this crazy world, that’s most of the time!
Deliciously Ella is a great resource if you are starting out on your plant-based journey or want to eat a few more plants. They’ve got many cookbooks (I’ve borrowed most from the library), lots of recipes online and on youtube, and an app with regular updates. If you are looking for inspiration it’s a great place to start. You can read more about them on my recommended page. They also have a new cookbook out called Quick and Easy which I’m currently reading during lockdown. There is a Tahini Cookie recipe I can't wait to try once I stock up on almond meal. Hopefully they are as good as these cookies.
Now go and bake some cookies and enjoy some plant-based goodness!
