I didn't grow up eating chocolate chip cookies, so I never really understood what the big deal was... that is, until I went to college in the US and started eating them all the time at the cafeteria (hello, freshman 15). So now, like everyone else, there is a place in my heart for these treats. Everyone likes their chocolate chip cookies a certain way. Me, I like 'em soft and chewy. The first time I made vegan ones was ages ago, and they turned out rock solid and too oily. It was quite a traumatizing experience, so I've kind of stayed away from trying it again. It also doesn't help that finding good chocolate chips in Korea isn't easy or always cheap.
But this week, I wanted to try it again while I was in Cheonan and had access to my parent's real oven. I can't remember what recipe I used last time, but this time I slightly modified this one from Vegweb.com. I also only made half the recipe because it's a bad idea to have too many of these in the cookie jar!
{Ingredients}
2 cups unbleached flour (I used half whole wheat, half white flour)2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla1/2 cup water
{Method}
1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C2. Mix dry ingredients, add chocolate chips, mix well.
3. Mix wet ingredients very well in a separate bowl, add to dry stuff4. Spoon out tablespoon sizes onto baking sheet
5. Pop in oven for 10-12 mins. 6. Cool on rack or gobble up while still warm! Scrumptious.
This would probably make around 24 cookies. I only did half this recipe, and got 13 cookies. Ohmygoodness, they turned out yummy. They were soft, slighly chewy, and the cinnamon made them the epitome of perfection. They were slightly on the sweet side, so next time, I might reduce the sugar just a teensy bit, or the chocolate chips.
Btw, if you're wondering where I got the chocolate chips from, I found them in HomePlus. They have a lot more baking supplies than E-mart, and better quality too. I can't remember the exact price, but I think it was around 3000won for a small packet. These chocolate chips are tiny, and they're not the kind that melt very well- as you can see from my pictures, they keep their form even after baking. But they do their job of adding chocolatey goodness. I've gotten better ones at the baking supply market at Dongdaemun, but who has the time to trek there just for chocolate chips? I also found some other surprising goodies at HomePlus that I didn't think were easily available in Korea: Wheat Gluten, Agar Powder, and even Stevia sweetener! I've never tried Agar or Stevia before, but I've heard about them a lot, so I can't wait to try 'em out. HomePlus:1, Emart:0!
