The Best Vegan Chewy Chocolate Cookies EVER

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan, non-hydrogenated margarine or shortening)
1 medium banana, preferably brown and spotty
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips*
oven temperature: 375°F / 190°C
baking time: 9 minutes

*make sure your chocolate chips are vegan (check the ingredients for dairy derivatives). I love Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips—they are dairy-free, bigger than many other brands, and very delicious! I usually use 1 cup in this recipe.


Mash the banana into pulp until it is mostly lump free (some lumps are okay). If your banana is not very soft, add about 1 tsp of non-dairy milk or water. You're going for an oatmeal-like texture. Set aside.


Combine the Earth Balance and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well until the lumps of Earth Balance are mostly gone. Add the vanilla and mashed banana. Combine well.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, stir gently to combine (don't over mix.)


Add the chocolate chips and gently fold in.


Roll about 2 tbsp of dough into balls and place at least 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. These spread quite a bit, so give them generous space! I put no more than 6 cookies on one sheet. Place into your preheated oven for 9 minutes. They will look slightly undone when you remove them. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then use a large, flat spatula to carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. They will be very soft!


Let cool and enjoy your delicious, chewy treat! These are even better after "resting" for a day, so feel free to make a batch the night before your party or potluck!

This neato ripe banana photo is from Smabs Sputzer, used under Creative Commons license.

Bananas are excellent tools for vegan baking. They can generally be used to replace eggs in muffins, cookies, pancakes and other sturdy baked goods. The bananas provide structure as well as leavening. In this particular cookie, the banana also imparts a wonderful flavor that pairs magically with the rich chocolate!

The best bananas for baking are ones that are very ripe. If you bake often, it's a good idea to buy lots of bananas at once, let them ripen as much as possible, then peel and freeze in plastic bags or firmly sealed containers. Then you can just pull a banana out when you need one (be sure to let it thaw before adding to your recipe). Frozen bananas are also great for making smoothies!

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