It’s about time that I introduce you to some of my friends.
Meet Jill. Jill is one fierce cookie, although me might try to fool you with her demure presence and coy smile. Do not be fooled. She’s a firecracker and she’s got your number.
I ventured into Jill’s kitchen one Sunday afternoon to make her famous vegan cookies. I’m not a big vegan cookie baker, and I thought I reach out to an expert.
I met Jill when I hired her at a tiny Los Angeles coffee shop I managed. We both learned very quickly that Jill is not a morning person and Joy is. We also learned that Jill thinks Black Widow spiders are cool and Joy runs screaming for the hills at the mere mention of one. But Joy and Jill share a deep love for, well… occasional boy talk and fast food tacos. Joy and Jill are great friends.
So what’s the deal with vegan cookies? No eggs, no butter, no milk. None of the regulars that you’ll usually see on my blog. Instead, I let Jill introduce me to tofu and vegan margarine in my baking. I have to say, Jill knows her way around some tofu and I was so pleased with these cookies. We ate them warm out of the oven with soy milk. What a good vegan I was for those few hours!
Thanks for opening up your kitchen to me Jill! You rock my socks.
Vegan Cookies with Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Cinnamon
1/2 cup vegan margarine (can be found at most grocery stores in the States)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup soft tofu, drained
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder ( Ghirardelli is vegan)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl combine margarine, brown sugar and tofu until well blended. Stir until virtually no chunks of tofu remain. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
On a parchment or foil lined backing sheet, heap cookie dough by the Tablespoon. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for 5 minutes then enjoy with soy milk!
Lu
OMG these are sooooo GOOD!
Vegan Love!
Lina
Hey, Joy! I decided to try to make these cookies, but I used white whole wheat flour and 10 tablespoons of peanut butter and 6 tablespoons of Smart Balance, and 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 2 tablespoons agave nectar. And, oops! I used 1/2 cup of tofu instead of 1/4 ~_~. Let’s see how it goes down…
Sara
I just made these cookies with an egg instead of tofu, and they turned out delish! Thankyou for the recipe!!
Baz
Hi,
Just found your website and wanted to thank you!!
Also, I was wondering if there’s a good reference out there for vegan baking that doesn’t use tofu? I’ve used applesauce…
I ask, only b/c of food allergy concerns for my sister’s son. She’s nursing and they’ve had to eliminate all dairy and as much soy as possible from her diet.
Many of the margarine options(locally available) are made from soybean oil and/or have whey in them. We’ve found the Smartbalance olive oil spread. It’s so soft (and doesn’t emulsify well). I have only tried baking brownies with it and haven’t tried cookies/scones. I may try to freeze it and make something.
any suggestions are welcome!
Helen
I made a very similar recipe this evening using applesauce for the egg replacer. The benefit of applesauce is that it can sub in for some of the oil (in this case margarine) too.
You could possibly get rid of the margarine altogether and just use double the applesauce, as the peanut butter has natural oils! I bet they’d turn out great.
The proportions were:
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 1/4 cup margarine (with this small amount I’m sure olive spread would do fine), 1/4 cup applesauce, 3 tsp “egg replacer” powder (optional, or use cornstarch), 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup heaped raw sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla essence
Blend all that then add
1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 heaped cup plain (all purpose) flour
Blend then add flour as needed till dough forms soft balls that are not sticky.
Bake smallish cookies in moderate oven for 6 – 10 minutes, careful as these burn easily. They should be very soft with crisp outside when hot & harden up when cooling.
Good luck!
Helen
I forgot to add that I use the strong dutch type cocoa. With a milder cocoa you could reduce the sugar by up to 1/2 a cup.
Jen
We made these awhile ago, and they were absolutely delicious. Using silken tofu as an egg substitute works great! I’ve used banana in some other vegan cookie experiments, and it was nice getting the moisture without the fruity flavor this time around.
We had a few experiments bumping up the spice and adding cocoa nibs with delicious results. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hallie
Wow, I just tried to make tofu for the first time the other day. I can’t believe that there is tofu in these cookies. I might have to try and make them!
Heather
when you say “soft” tofu, do you mean “silken”? thanx
Sarah
I looooove pb & cinnamon combos, & I love pb & chocolate combos, so this sounds amazing. I’ve made cookies w/ tofu once before but these look even better. Thanks!
Melinda
Holy cow! I am thrilled to see a Joy recipe I can bake as-is for my dairy allergic daughter. I swear, you are becoming my favorite person EVAR.
Sophie
These cookies sound really fun :). I’ve never made vegan cookies with tofu but it sounds like a cool idea. Isn’t it nice to have friends that can bake? That way when we have a craving but are too lazy to bake something up for ourselves, they can do it for us :D.
Kiley Smith
I just made these cookies…they are amazing! I didn’t have any margarine so I added butter and they turned out just fine! Yummy! I will definitely make again! Thanks!
delicious chronicles
i love those, they seem to float.. thanx.. and i love your description of the reason you love breads and all.. Me tooo…. I’m on my path to be a pastry chef… so cool!!