There’s only one thing better than chocolate chip cookies, and it’s vegan chocolate chunk cookies! Most of all the type that are are crisp on the outside, perfectly soft-chewy inside and stuffed full of big, rich chunks of gooey chocolate.
These easy chocolate chunk cookies use no hard to find ingredients, and there’s no need to chill the dough before baking. Just mix everything while the oven is heating, then bake.
Egg-free cookies are simple!
Vegan cookies are easy to make with the right ingredients. This recipe uses flax gel – a mixture of ground flaxseed and water as an egg-alternative. It’s a key ingredient in these cookies, keeping them well held together while retaining their soft inside texture.
Flax’s neutral flavour is important too. These are classic chocolate chunk cookies, so avoiding unusual flavours is important.
The best cooking chocolate for cookies
I’ve tried various chocolate for making cookies, and it’s not all equal. The major issue is melting and cooling the chocolate, because some chocolate will turn grainy as it sets.
The important thing is avoid 100% cocoa chocolate. It’s delicious to eat, but can be tricky in baking.
Chocolate that says it’s for cooking is a great choice here, but I’ve had good results with any chocolate that contains a little vegetable fat. This type of chocolate is much more resistant to turning grainy than 100% cocoa chocolate, and it often has a slightly softer texture that makes it easier to chop in to chunks.
How to make the perfect cookies
There’s a bunch of science here I want to explore more when there’s time, so I plan to return to cookies again. Either here, or with another recipe.
I’m particularly fascinated with how the balls of dough only relax and spread out flat near the end of baking. I believe this is crucial to forming their crisp crust and soft inside.
However, when it comes to making cookies, this is a simple recipe. One of the major features of this recipe is initially mixing some ingredients separately. Oil and sugars in one bowl, flour and raising agents in another, then bringing them together for a just brief mix to form the dough. Flour contains gluten – a protein that easily tangles up when wet – so we’re trying to minimise mixing while wet. Too much mixing at this stage will make your cookies tough.
Also, space them out well on the tray. These cookies spread out quite large.
Size is important too. The volume of the cookie dough balls is crucial to how they heat up and the point at which they relax and spread out. Smaller cookies will be harder and drier, while bigger cookies may be too soft inside. I recommend you make exactly ten cookies from this volume of dough. If you have any issues getting them equal size, it’s totally ok to pull dough off one and press it into another until you’re happy they’re all about equal.
Vegan Chocolate Chunk cookies
Ingredients
Flax gel
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water
Wet
- 75 g coconut oil
- 75 g soft dark brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry
- 200 g plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
chocolate chunks
- 75 g dark chocolate cut in to chunks
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to (180 °C / Fan 160 °C / 350 °F / Gas 4) and line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
- Add the ground flaxseed and water to a bowl and stir. Set it aside to thicken (takes about 5 minutes).
- Warm the coconut oil until it turns liquid. Mix together the melted coconut oil and sugar, then stir in the flax gel and vanilla until fully incorporated.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) until evenly distributed. Pour in the wet ingredients from step 3. Mix until a stiff dough forms, then stir in the chocolate chunks.
- Divide the dough into 10 pieces. Roll each piece in to a ball and place well spaced apart on the trays.
- Bake for around 15 minutes, or until they have spread out flat and turned a lightly golden at the edges. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
Have you tried these chocolate chunk cookies, or have any questions? Join in the comments below! Also, if you’re looking for something a bit more British – check out these melting moment cookies.
