The perfect Pinterest Cookie recipe, featuring chaotic, real human being notes you wish you had before baking anything new.
STOP: If you don’t care about anything but a delicious cookie recipe, I hear you. Skip the next few paragraphs and enjoy! The original recipe is linked at the bottom on the page, with all credit to the creator.
Though if you want to hop on the vegan train but wish you had someone to be a guinea pig for you, or just want to know if a recipe actually works, look no further.
My Pre-Baking Expectations:
I’m a little nervous about finding 100% vegan ingredients, but I’m due for a grocery trip anyway, so it’s time for an essential outing.
When finding a recipe, I expect there to be the same long backstory that every Pinterest recipe seems to have, explaining that the baker’s eleven children have been eating these since the womb, and how they perfected their great grandmother’s recipe after leaving their husband.
My biggest concerns for the cookies themselves are that they will either fall apart/be very dry due to lack of dairy and eggs, or that they’ll be fine but include a vegetable as a substitute for non-vegan ingredients. I will not put a vegetable in cookies, even for content.
The Ingredients
All from Stop & Shop or my pantry. No veggies!
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid but scoop-able
1 and 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut milk (I like to use the thicker Thai variety, but any coconut milk will work)
Tip: it’s hard to find anything smaller than an 8-ounce can of coconut milk, so you’ll have some leftover for use in your coffee. Or cereal, if you’re into that.
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Dangerously close to a vegetable, but I’ll allow it.
2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (be sure not to pack your flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips if vegan)
These were easier than expected to find! Thank you to the “organic and free-from” section of the baking aisle. I used dark chocolate because it’s supposed to be better for you (right?). Also, it felt fancier.
Flaky sea salt, optional
The Instructions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
Okay, easy enough. We’ve done this before.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla, beating until well combined.
Why didn’t anyone tell me solid coconut oil felt like squishy kinetic sand? I understand why people use it for everything, now. I want to play with it.
Add in the coconut milk and applesauce and whisk until well combined; set aside. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; whisk well to combine.
The mixture is starting to resemble regular dough, which is promising. I taste-test the coconut milk; it tastes okay, but does not transport me to a tropical island.
3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture
Dear god this is a lot of dry ingredients. Did I measure everything right?
and, using a wooden spoon or very sturdy spatula, stir until ingredients are combined
A wooden spoon??? I can feel my electric mixer burning a hole in the kitchen drawer. I miss her.
The batter will be very thick! Fold in 1 and 3/4 cups of the chocolate chips.
This lady isn’t kidding about it being thick. Screw it. I’m using my hands.
The dough tastes pretty dang good at this point, and it doesn’t make me want to throw up like regular raw cookie dough would. Maybe I could really go vegan… oh, who am I kidding? Real cheese is much too important.
4. Scoop three tablespoon-sized mounds of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, leaving a few inches between each cookie for spreading.
Either my measurement-eyeballing skills are abysmal, or these cookies are actually supposed to be HUGE. I end up forming about 1-2 inch clumps per cookie.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers have set.
In they go! They end up taking about 15 minutes to cook till golden-brown.
Press remaining chocolate chips on top of warm cookies, and sprinkle with sea salt, if using.
Oh my god, why didn’t I ever think of doing this?! The chips pressed on top get gooey and the cookies look perfect! Also, you would never know it’s vegan chocolate.
Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
I ignore this step and move them after about 5 minutes to a plate. This little risk seems to pay off well: they look tasty…
Honest, Non-Professional, Non-Vegan Rating: 11/10
Rarely has a Pinterest recipe come out picture-perfect, but these cookies did. The end result was the perfect cookie: crispy outside with a soft, chewy middle, and fresh-tasting days later. My family loved them and I ate four immediately (plus a little dough). I absolutely recommend these and will be making them again!