Vegetables are my 'bottom line' diet, particularly green ones. That's what I crave more than anything, and I love feeling good more than I love the feeling of overindulgence, or the taste of sugar hitting my tongue (but I do admit to having a sweet tooth!). But baking chocolate chip cookies is an activity that I still love, even as a health nut, just as much as I loved it when I was...less than a health nut.
As a teenager, I would bake a batch for my family just to have an excuse to taste the batter. I can't really recommend doing this, since I've taken a food hygiene and safety course and eating raw eggs isn't the best idea. I use organic eggs as much as possible, but anyway, I've never had a problem. Touch wood. Maybe it's a cultural thing. My Irish hubby thinks it's gross, as does the Scottish husband of another ex-pat American friend, but she will also happily lick a spoon that's just come out of the light brown/dark brown thick, silky swath of dough in the mixing bowl.
While I was 'reforming' my health, I didn't bake any chocolate chip cookies. Maybe not for several years - can you believe it?? I still make them only rarely, and when I do, I make them to my specifications (unrefined sugar, gluten and dairy free, with ground flax seed for omega 3 fats), and usually when I can share them. Some very good helpers have appeared recently, a troop of neighborhood boys from Poland who play soccer on the green outside my front door and work up a really good appetite. This recipe is gluten and dairy free, with unrefined cane sugar, and these nine year olds are nuts about them. They also said that the dark chocolate was nice - but you know, they are getting free cookies, so there better not be any complaining.
Chocolate chips are convenient, but I never use them anymore. I buy bars of chocolate so that I have more choice of what kind of chocolate I'm using: I've been using Divine 70% dark for several years now. It's fair trade, high quality, not too bitter, and dairy free. They're also an independent company, and since Cadbury's bought out Green & Blacks, they've been putting whole milk fat into their dark chocolate - not necessary, in my opinion. I put the bars on my cutting board and chop them first lengthwise, then widthwise. What's left is flakes and cubes that will dot your cookies with tiny bits of chocolate throughout, plus some nice big jackpot chunks here and there. And if you roll the dough into balls between your palms, you can feel the edges of the cubes poking into your skin. It just seems more artisan to me, and I like that.
Why gluten free? Well, maybe you have a problem digesting wheat, or have other digestive difficulties. If so, gluten free might help...a lot. Gluten free foods are also a nice way to get more variety in your diet: as you'll see, this recipe has about five different kinds of flour instead of one, including milled flax seed, which is really high in omega 3 fats. Between bread, pasta, cereal, pizza and more, we've been inundated with high-gluten processed wheat for most of our lives, but eating a varied diet is vitally important. Wheat, dairy, white sugar and other refined 'white' foods, when eliminated, help many people to naturally deal with asthma, skin problems, weight, digestive problems and more, including more problematic diseases like MS and diabetes II.
Some practicalities: these cookies freeze well, so if you don't want them sitting there calling to you, pop them in a bag and freeze for a summer's day. If you can't find sorghum flour in your local whole/organic foods shop, then ask in Indian/Asian grocery stores for Juwar flour - it's the same thing, and it tastes very much like wheat. It's great for gluten free baking. And my final but most important note, if you don't have an oven thermometer and you enjoy baking even a little, I strongly suggest you get one. The Celsius to Fahrenheit converter says that 375F is 190C - but my oven only needs to be at 145C to reach 375F - which I never knew until I had the thermometer. My baking is much better having spent the £5.99 it cost to get this miracle gadget.
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you don't want to run around getting all of the different flours, you can simply use 2 1/4 cups gluten free flour blend in place of the first 4 ingredients.
3/4 cup sorghum flour (known as Juwar Flour at Indian shops)
1/2 cup potato flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup rice flour
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar (unrefined cane crystals)
1 cup sunflower spread (or other vegan butter that bakes well - not diet 'butter')
2 Tablespoons tapioca flour or potato starch dissolved in 4 Tablespoons cool water (or 2 eggs)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200 - 250 grams dark dairy free chocolate bars, chopped to the size of chip you prefer
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts (optional)
baking paper
Preheat oven to 375 F, 190C. Like a baking tray with baking paper (this makes such a difference for gluten free baking). In a large bowl, cream the vegetable butter with the sugar using the back of a large wooden spoon. Mix in egg replacer (or eggs) and then add vanilla.
Separately, sift all the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet. Mix to incorporate. Blend in the chocolate chips and optional nuts. If you have time, refrigerate for an hour or two. Scoop tablespoon-size balls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cool, if you can wait.
As a teenager, I would bake a batch for my family just to have an excuse to taste the batter. I can't really recommend doing this, since I've taken a food hygiene and safety course and eating raw eggs isn't the best idea. I use organic eggs as much as possible, but anyway, I've never had a problem. Touch wood. Maybe it's a cultural thing. My Irish hubby thinks it's gross, as does the Scottish husband of another ex-pat American friend, but she will also happily lick a spoon that's just come out of the light brown/dark brown thick, silky swath of dough in the mixing bowl.
While I was 'reforming' my health, I didn't bake any chocolate chip cookies. Maybe not for several years - can you believe it?? I still make them only rarely, and when I do, I make them to my specifications (unrefined sugar, gluten and dairy free, with ground flax seed for omega 3 fats), and usually when I can share them. Some very good helpers have appeared recently, a troop of neighborhood boys from Poland who play soccer on the green outside my front door and work up a really good appetite. This recipe is gluten and dairy free, with unrefined cane sugar, and these nine year olds are nuts about them. They also said that the dark chocolate was nice - but you know, they are getting free cookies, so there better not be any complaining.
Chocolate chips are convenient, but I never use them anymore. I buy bars of chocolate so that I have more choice of what kind of chocolate I'm using: I've been using Divine 70% dark for several years now. It's fair trade, high quality, not too bitter, and dairy free. They're also an independent company, and since Cadbury's bought out Green & Blacks, they've been putting whole milk fat into their dark chocolate - not necessary, in my opinion. I put the bars on my cutting board and chop them first lengthwise, then widthwise. What's left is flakes and cubes that will dot your cookies with tiny bits of chocolate throughout, plus some nice big jackpot chunks here and there. And if you roll the dough into balls between your palms, you can feel the edges of the cubes poking into your skin. It just seems more artisan to me, and I like that.
Why gluten free? Well, maybe you have a problem digesting wheat, or have other digestive difficulties. If so, gluten free might help...a lot. Gluten free foods are also a nice way to get more variety in your diet: as you'll see, this recipe has about five different kinds of flour instead of one, including milled flax seed, which is really high in omega 3 fats. Between bread, pasta, cereal, pizza and more, we've been inundated with high-gluten processed wheat for most of our lives, but eating a varied diet is vitally important. Wheat, dairy, white sugar and other refined 'white' foods, when eliminated, help many people to naturally deal with asthma, skin problems, weight, digestive problems and more, including more problematic diseases like MS and diabetes II.
Some practicalities: these cookies freeze well, so if you don't want them sitting there calling to you, pop them in a bag and freeze for a summer's day. If you can't find sorghum flour in your local whole/organic foods shop, then ask in Indian/Asian grocery stores for Juwar flour - it's the same thing, and it tastes very much like wheat. It's great for gluten free baking. And my final but most important note, if you don't have an oven thermometer and you enjoy baking even a little, I strongly suggest you get one. The Celsius to Fahrenheit converter says that 375F is 190C - but my oven only needs to be at 145C to reach 375F - which I never knew until I had the thermometer. My baking is much better having spent the £5.99 it cost to get this miracle gadget.
Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you don't want to run around getting all of the different flours, you can simply use 2 1/4 cups gluten free flour blend in place of the first 4 ingredients.
3/4 cup sorghum flour (known as Juwar Flour at Indian shops)
1/2 cup potato flour
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup rice flour
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar (unrefined cane crystals)
1 cup sunflower spread (or other vegan butter that bakes well - not diet 'butter')
2 Tablespoons tapioca flour or potato starch dissolved in 4 Tablespoons cool water (or 2 eggs)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200 - 250 grams dark dairy free chocolate bars, chopped to the size of chip you prefer
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts (optional)
baking paper
Preheat oven to 375 F, 190C. Like a baking tray with baking paper (this makes such a difference for gluten free baking). In a large bowl, cream the vegetable butter with the sugar using the back of a large wooden spoon. Mix in egg replacer (or eggs) and then add vanilla.
Separately, sift all the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet. Mix to incorporate. Blend in the chocolate chips and optional nuts. If you have time, refrigerate for an hour or two. Scoop tablespoon-size balls onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cool, if you can wait.
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