I’ve never doubted that vegan cakes could taste as good as their non-vegan counterparts, but I wasn’t quite sold on vegan cookies. There are a number of good substitutes for butter (although recently, I’ve been reading how terrible palm oil is), but replacing an egg can be tricky. I’ve tried the flax egg thing, and maybe I’m doing it wrong, but it just doesn’t taste right to me. However, my opinion of vegan cookies changed when I made these.
The egg is replaced by tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch), which can just be dumped into your recipe as is- no grinding of flaxseeds necessary! I read about this swap in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
The Texas heat makes me a little sluggish and I wasn’t up for anything elaborate, so this is a total lazy girl’s (or guy’s, no discrimination here) cookie. One bowl, dump and stir, and no chilling time! Instant cookie gratification! However, the food blogger in me did want a little bit of fancy, so I busted out the good olive oil since I thought it paired nicely with the chocolate and topped the cookies with a little bit of flaky sea salt. I like a salty cookie anyway, but dark chocolate practically screams for it. If you’re not a fan of the olive oil in your cookies, this recipe will work just fine with any neutral vegetable oil or even melted coconut oil, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I liked the olive oil/chocolate combo so much, you may see it soon in the form of a cake!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 2/3 cup (150 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) organic granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all purpose flour, divided
- 1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (175 grams) vegan bittersweet chocolate chips
- flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat together the olive oil, non-dairy milk, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and tapioca flour, and vanilla extract with a fork for about 2 minutes until the mixture thickens and looks like caramel.
- Add 1 cup of the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined.
- Mix in the remaining 1/2 cup of the flour.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop, drop balls of the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets one inch apart. The dough will be a little but greasy, so you may need to use your fingers to push the dough together into balls.
- Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of sea salt and bake them for about 8 minutes (9-10 minutes for a crisper cookie.
- Cool completely on wire racks.
For a thicker, puffier cookie, reduce the non-dairy milk to 1/4 cup.
Baking time is based on cookies that I made with a small cookie scoop
Natural cocoa powder will work in this recipe, but you will end up with a lighter colored cookie.
Wow these cookies look so good! I’ve actually never tried olive oil in cookies but you definitely have me wanting to do it! And with the sea salt … you can’t go wrong there!
Those look sooo good right now, I could totally go for a couple of those. 🙂 Love the use of olive oil, it lends such a nice flavor to desserts like these.
these sound amazing!
I haven’t looked in to vegan cookies yet, but I’m definitely going to invest a little time and effort to make these! Thanks for the share 🙂
Yesss, olive oil chocolate cake, I will so be here for that! I also love these beautiful cookies! I don’t have a ton of vegan baking experience, but I have successfully used Ener-G egg replacer, which (I think??) is a mix of starches, including tapioca. But I didn’t know you could use it on its own–nifty!
I’ve never tried Ener-g, mostly because I haven’t been able to find it, but I’ll be on the lookout. I’d be interested to try it and see how it compares to tapioca.
Natasha! These photos are soooooo gorgeous! These cookies look so dark ‘n decadent ‘n chocolatey, my favourite. It’s the trifecta of deliciousness! And a big yes to combining olive oil, chocolate ‘n sea salt. I love that these are a one bowl kind of cookie (sometimes I’m way too lazy to use the stand mixer ‘n wash all of those components). I can’t wait to try this! As for the flax egg, I’ve only ever used it in cake but never cookies. I’d be interested to see if a cookie recipe could be developed using it with good, non-weird-tasting results.
Thank you, Nancy! I’ve never actually used flax egg in cake, but I definitely want to experiment.
Made these over the weekend and they’re delish with a nice brownie-like quality. I didn’t get as much spreading, so the first bake looked more like drop cookies. The second pan I pressed flat with the palm of my hand. Thanks!
Glad you liked them, Michelle! Thanks for your feedback.
YES OLIVE OIL + CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! WHERE IS IT NATASHA WHERE IS IT?!
Hi I just made these and I’m so so excited to eat one after dinner, but since I’m the only vegan in the house I was wondering if I can freeze these? If yes, how would I go about it..?
I think these would freeze well. I usually double wrap baked cookies in saran wrap and then in tin foil to prevent against freezer burn. They should keep in the freezer for a couple of months.
I’ve made these cookies about 5 times now, and I’m in love with them. And so are my friends! The sea salt and chocolate mix is just divine. Thank you!
Be
That’s awesome, Becky. So glad they turned out well for you!
Hi! These look great. I do have Ener-G egg replacer and plan on using that—is your tapioca substitute the equivalent of one or two eggs though? Just so I know how much Ener-G to use.
Thanks!