Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's the yummy recipe for the Vegan (and nut free and egg free) Chocolate Chip cookies that I made as a Christmas present for my vegan brother-in-law, Mark. This recipe was on the back of the bag of vegan chocolate chips and I made a couple of minor modifications that seemed to work well including using soy "peanut" butter instead of regular peanut butter. I made these as a gift for Mark because he doesn't like to own a lot of things, so food is really the only good gift I think he can use.

Everyone in my family (vegan or not) thought these were yummy and since one of my complaints about vegan food is that it often doesn't taste good to a non-vegan, I liked this recipe since everyone ate up the cookies! We even left these for Santa and he liked them too :-) The only thing to note about these cookies is that they spread out quickly and are on the thin side so make sure to space them well apart.

"Nutty" Chocolate Chip Cookies
Egg, Nut, and Milk Free

1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup smooth soy “peanut” butter such as IM Healthy Brand
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 ounce (1 bag) vegan chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grease or line a baking pan with parchment paper.
3. Combine flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. Mix oil, and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in applesauce, soy “peanut” butter, and vanilla until combined.
5. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in chips.
6. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheet. Leave lots of space (at least 2 ½ inches depending on the side of your dough ball) between each ball. Cookies spread quite a bit upon baking.
7. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until cookies are light golden brown.
8. Allow cookies to cool before removing.

Makes 2 dozen large cookies