If you’re looking for a chocolate cookie that's vegan, but can hold its own against any butter-loaded classic, meet these Vegan Double Chocolate Cookies. They’re thin, chewy around the edges, fudgy in the middle, and loaded with cocoa richness. The secret? There's no way I can tell you without sounding like an ad, but it's Country Crock Homestyle Dairy Free Butter. It gives the cookies a soft, bendy, texture people love.
These aren’t cakey or dry the way some double chocolate cookies can be. Instead, they spread out just enough to get crackly edges and keep a soft, brownie-like center. Mine spread pretty evenly, but lately I've been using the English muffin ring trick of rounding out warm cookies. I always thought this was cheating. It sort of is, but the cookies look so pretty!
The cookies are completely dairy-free, egg-free, and easy to make with simple pantry ingredients. Or at least if you keep ground flax around. I think of it as a staple, but maybe it's not. The flax, mixed with the oat milk, acts as a binder.
Country Crock Homestyle Sticks
But back to the Country Crock Homestyle Dairy Free Butter. I get weirdly excited when a new vegan butter debuts, not because I'm vegan, but because I like testing its flavor and performance in baking. The new homestyle sticks don't have a strong palm oil flavor, they blend easily with sugar, and they impart a softer texture than butter. Also, they come in unsalted and salted, so if you are used to using unsalted butter, you don't have to worry about adjusting salt. Do you still believe me when I promise this is not an ad?
Ingredient Rundown
- Flour -- I've been making these with King Arthur unbleached all-purpose. The extra protein in the KA probably adds some chewiness.
- Cocoa Powder -- Natural, which is acidic and reacts with the baking soda. However, I think Dutch would be great since there's already a lot of acid from the brown sugar and baking powder.
- Cinnamon -- Adds the tiniest bit adds flavor without turning them into spice cookies. It's hard to even detect that it's cinnamon.
- Country Crock Homestyle Dairy Free Unsalted Butter -- The unsalted version. If using salted you'll have to reduce the salt.
- Molasses -- Molasses acts as an invert sugar and a flavoring here.
- Vanilla -- Use whatever type you have, but the paste also acts as an invert sugar and keeps the cookies soft and chewy.
- Ground Flax -- This binds with the liquid from the vegan milk and helps structure. It's a small amount, but I don't recommend leaving it out.
- Almond or Oat Milk -- Any vegan milk.
- Chocolate Chips -- Use any kind of chips or chocolate chunks. Sweeter ones work better than the extra dark because they partner well with the cookies, which are surprisingly not that sweet.
Recipe
Soft and Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, aerate flour well or weigh (250 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural) (40 grams)
- 2 sticks Country Crock Dairy Free Butter (228 grams)
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla
- 1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed (200 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 tablespoon ground flax
- ⅓ cup oat milk or almond milk
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cocoa powder, then set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the dairy free butter, sugar molasses and vanilla for about 2 minutes. Add the plant milk and flax. Stir until blended.
- Add the flour mixture and stir by hand or with the paddle attachment on low to make a soft dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop balls of dough with a medium or large cookie scoop, then set on parchment lined baking sheet. If you want to prepare the dough balls ahead of time and bake later, scoop them onto a plastic wrap lined dinner plate (or tray), cover and chill until ready to bake.
- Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes or until they appear set. If using cold dough, the cookies will take longer. Once done, slide the parchment onto the counter and let the cookies cool on the parchment until they are stable enough to transfer. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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