vegan chocolate chip cookie bars

let it be known; i will never stray far from the nestle toll house chocolate chip cookie recipe. an accidentally brilliant lady named ruth wakefield was baking in the kitchen of the toll house inn and added semi-sweet chocolate chunks to a batch of cookies, thinking the chocolate would melt completely. needless to say it did not, and thus, the chocolate chip cookie was born. who am i to mess with success? the chocolate chip cookie was obviously a gift from a higher power

HOWEVER for the sake of veganizing all the yummiest treats, i finally tackled this favorite recipe of mine

i know the original recipe by heart. it goes like this:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. (2 sticks) butter
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

combine flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. beat together room temperature butter and sugars until smooth. add vanilla to butter and sugar mixture, then add eggs one at a time, beating til smooth. gradually add the flour mixture as well, continuing to mix until smooth. finally, mix in chocolate chips evenly, and bake at 375*. times vary for regular cookie and pan cookie variations ;)

in order to veganize this and many other recipes to come, i am using two very basic conversions:

1 c. butter = 1 c. vegetable shortening
1 egg = 1/4 c. apple sauce

i know it sounds crazy but it really works! and not to be condescending, but i’ve been asked this before - for the record, no applesauce doesn’t make your baking taste like apples! it just adds the right amount of moisture and sweetness. in fact, in many recipes, i prefer applesauce to eggs even if i’m not being a vegan that day

and so, after veganizing the basic chocolate chip cookie recipe i came up with this:

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BARS

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. vegetable shortening
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
2 c. chocolate chips

for the chocolate chips, i recommend using high-quality dark chocolate that doesn’t contain milk fat or other milk products, but carob chips work fine too. preparation remains the same! i literally whipped these up in about thirty spare minutes i had between job #1 and job #2 one busy weekday. i lined a 9x11 baking ban with a thin coating of vegetable oil, and laid the dough out evenly in the pan. my instincts told me to sprinkle about a teaspoon salt on top to compensate for a slight taste difference - and my instinct were on point! i baked at 375* for 20 min. they came out a bit gooey but slightly brown on the top. after cooling for a little while, they were perfect! they tasted like cookie dough, and my super picky non-vegan roommate kept eating them and saying “oh my GOD” with his mouth full. GREAT SUCCESS

MANIFESTO!?

i have always thoroughly enjoyed baking. and, being raised in a household where my mother baked everything from scratch, i’ve been conditioned to believe that anything out of a box or a magical powder or a tube is 100% sub-par. i will always remember the first time i baked chocolate chip cookies from scratch at my first house away from my parents, and my roommate at the time was astonished, as if i had accomplished a lunar landing

for a long time, i was unable to fully indulge in my baking impulses due primarily to an insanely busy schedule and the fact that my landlord wouldn’t fix my stupid oven. now that i live in a nicer apartment with a working oven and a kitchen with sunny windows and an awesome yellow vintage table, baking is all i do!

mastering basic baking has been easy. my newest challenge has become vegan baking- making sure taste and texture aren’t compromised. am i a vegan? absolutely not. i have no food morals, although i do try to avoid meat and dairy

i feel odd blogging about doing something that seems so natural to me, but a lot of people have started to show interest in what i consider a hobby i really love. several people have suggested blogging, and a few have even suggested hawking my baked goods… we’ll see ;) in the meantime, i suppose my goal here is just to share the baking i do with my friends and anyone else who’s interested. which is half the fun of baking- sharing a finished product

all my recipes are simple. all my recipes are delicious. you have my blessing in trying to mimic them! so stayed tuned for photos and recipes that will totally make you drool