Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have an insatiable sweet tooth. As healthy as I resolve to make my diet, I won't even try to exclude sweets. It'll never happen. I unfortunately passed my sweet tooth on to my son. He had sugar for the first time shortly before he turned one, when I did a trial run on vegan cupcakes to make for his birthday. Up until then, his diet consisted of breast milk and the homemade organic baby food I laboriously prepared for him. With the video camera rolling, he bit into his first cupcake and loved it! My normally messy eater didn't waste a crumb, picking every last drop off the high chair tray. His love for sweets began that day. It was no surprise that his first two syllable word was "cookie".

Andrew, who normally doesn't go for sweets, requests chocolate chip cookies all the time. I inherited this amazing recipe from my mom, who seemed to make them almost every day. I'm sure that every single one of my childhood friends remember these cookies. They were always in the house, and always requested when anyone came over. When my mom copied the recipe in a cookbook for me when I moved out of the house, I thought I was being privileged to a exquisite family recipe. Then one night far into my pregnancy I was bingeing on Nestle chocolate chips (that could explain Logan's sweet tooth). I turned the package around and started reading the recipes. The chocolate chip cookie recipe was exactly the same as my mom's! I felt like my whole life had been a lie.

Anyways, I make chocolate chip cookies every so often for Andrew. Logan always sees them on the counter and yells "cookie!", and a temper tantrum ensues when he doesn't get one. I decided to alter "mom's recipe" to eliminate animal products.

The first step was finding vegan chocolate. I checked the label of a bar of an Endangered Species chocolate bar that was in the cabinet, and was pleased to see no milk fat! Whole Foods sells vegan chocolate chips, but I doubt it's as good as this stuff. I just chopped up this bar and added it to the batter.

The next step was finding ingredients to substitute for the eggs and butter. Eggs are easily substituted with applesauce or bananas without altering the taste. 1/4 cup of applesauce or 1/2 a banana for each egg. The harder decision rested with the butter. Oil is easily substituted for butter in cakes and muffins, but I was afraid it would make the cookies too dense. I decided to use vegetable shortening. Not the healthiest choice, but chocolate chip cookies aren't exactly good for you anyways. For some people, anything with white sugar isn't considered vegan, since it's filtered with animal bone char. The bone char isn't in the sugar, but it is used as a filter. I'm not one of those people, so to me, this recipe is vegan.

Right away I could see a difference in the batter. It was so light and fluffy, and I could eat as much as I wanted without fear of getting sick from the eggs. Logan loved it, too. He kept running up to me to lick my fingers.

The end result was amazing. The cookies taste the same, if not better than the regular recipe. They have a lighter feel, and are crunchy and chewy at the same time. Imagine that. And they pair very well with homemade almond milk. I'll definitely make these again, even for non vegans. Sorry mom, but I've found a new recipe to pass on!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

• 1 cup of vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• vegan chocolate bar/chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream the shortening and the sugars with an electric mixer. Add vanilla, followed by the applesauce.

With a wooden spoon, mix in the flour, salt and baking soda.

Add the chocolate.

Drop tablespoon sized balls of dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.