I cook a lot. Several meals a day, every day. I bake a lot too, but that's just to feed my sweet tooth. I've been dairy-free for 6 weeks and it seems to be helping my 3 month old baby's reflux, so I'm going to keep at it for a while. The hardest adjustment has been my morning coffee: oat milk doesn't taste nearly as good as cow's milk in there and I just cannot deal with black coffee. I try not to consume too much soy (Here's one post that nicely sums up my issues with soy) and I don't eat nuts so soy milk and almond milk are out.
Anyway, long story short, besides coffee, the rest has been pretty easy. And it's not hard to make dietary sacrifices when I see such improvement in my little one. I'd even give up cookies and coffee for that. Along the way, I've been testing out dairy free breads and cookies. Some have been epic fails. Some have been delicious. The other day I made these vegan chocolate chip cookies (modified recipe below) and my husband proclaimed them awesome. In fact, he tweeted: "So my wife goes dairy free and the cookies get better. It’s like a magical fairy lives in my kitchen.
Yay. These cookies were really good and super easy. I made them with my 2 year old, who had a grand old time tasting the dough. I was skeptical, admittedly. They have no leavening ingredients and flax seed meal. It all seemed a tad weird, frankly, but we pushed forward and voila! Yum. I made them small -- silver dollar size -- the original recipe said I'd yield 12 cookies but we made 36. I love small cookies -- it's a win-win for everyone. These fit nicely in the palm of my 2 year old's hand. More cookies, better portion size, great for kids' lunches. Thanks to the coconut oil, these were not only flavorful but also nicely crispy. And because of their small size, the crispiness wasn't odd. I used these dairy free chocolate chips which melted nicely (as you can see above). This is definitely a recipe I'll make again.
Enjoy!
Silve Dollar Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies
- Yield:12 cookies
- Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup virgin or extra virgin coconut oil
- ¼ cup+ 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup+ 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed meal
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup+ 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup dairy free chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine flax seed with water in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Cream coconut oil with evaporated cane juice and brown sugar until well blended.
4. Add flax seed mixture and vanilla extract. Beat until well blended.
5. Add flour and salt in three stages, scraping the bowl after each new addition. Mix until smooth.
6. Fold in chocolate chips and spoon 36 tablespoon sized dough balls onto a baking sheet. Slightly flatten each dough ball by pressing down on them with the back of a spoon.
7. Bake in center rack of oven for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.