Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Langkah-langkah

1. Brown the butter before doing anything else, as it needs time to cool: Add the sliced butter to a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan. Turn to medium heat. Swirl the pan or stir with a silicone spatula occasionally until melted, foamy, and at a bubble (it should take 2 to 3 minutes).Heat for 2 to 3 more minutes, stirring frequently with a silicone spatula until nutty in aroma and slightly darker. Turn off the heat before it starts foaming up the sides of the pan.Immediately pour into a medium heatproof bowl to stop cooking, scraping out all of the butter from the pan with the spatula.Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until no longer warm (warm butter = sticky cookies).

2. Line a large plate or mini sheet pan with parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill.

3. Make the flax eggs. In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed meal with 70 mL warm water (this is 5 heaped tablespoons). Whisk well to combine and rest for 15 minutes, whisking again halfway through and once more at the end of the 15 minutes.

4. While waiting for the butter and flax egg, coarsely chop the chocolate--some texture variation in small/large pieces is nice. Set aside. If desired, reserve 12 pieces of chopped chocolate to press into each cookie.

5. Dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda until well incorporated.

6. Wet ingredients: Once flax eggs have gelled and brown butter has cooled, add both to a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, cane sugar, and vanilla. Use an electric mixer on medium to mix everything together until well combined and small ribbon-like waves appear, about 30 seconds (or use a whisk and arm power for ~45 seconds).

7. Remove the beaters and switch to a silicone spatula. Add half of the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold with a silicone spatula until just combined. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and chopped chocolate (minus reserved 12 pieces for topping). Fold together just until no dry spots remain. The dough should be thick but somewhat soft, not stodgy.

8. Scoop out cookie dough rounds. Use a large cookie scoop to measure out ~72g per cookie dough round (or use a ¼ cup measuring cup, leveling off the top & using a small silicone spatula to get the dough out of the measuring cup). Place the cookie dough rounds on the lined pan/plate from the fridge, but no need to space them out, as they'll chill first. If desired, press a piece of reserved chopped chocolate into the top of each cookie. Tip 1: Don't make smaller cookies (see Note 5). Tip 2: If the dough is too sticky to handle, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, then shape.

9. Once the cookie dough balls have set, you can transfer them to a ziploc bag or container and refrigerate. Chill for 24 hours, or up to 72 hours. If you're short on time, I still recommend chilling for as long as you can (even 2 hours will give you a better cookie than baking immediately).

10. When ready to bake: preheat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC and arrange a rack in the center of the oven. If your rimmed sheet pan is not well-worn or not made of aluminum or nonstick, it's essential to line with parchment paper to prevent sticking (see Note 7). Add five or six cookie dough rounds, spacing them 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, as they’ll spread a lot.

11. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center (16 minutes for a slightly crispier edge). While still warm, sprinkle cookies with a little flaky sea salt. See Note 9.

12. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes (5 minutes if lined with parchment), then transfer to a cooling rack to cool for a few more minutes.

13. Bake the remaining batch (or freeze the cookie dough to bake later).