Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (2024)

These epic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies are simply the best vegan cookies you will ever eat! Perfectly crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, and filled with dark chocolate chips, they are simply irresistible.

Damien, who’s been vegan since 2017, loves true chocolate cookies with a soft, chewy, pillowy center and crispy edges.

The Science Of Baking The BEST Vegan Cookies

Let’s flashback to 2017 when I learned how to bake vegan recipes. It took me months to test the best combination of ingredients to achieve the perfect vegan cookie texture. Removing eggs from cookies is the most challenging part, as eggs are the crucial cookie dough ingredient that controls spreading, texture, and puffiness.

Oil Versus Vegan Butter

I tested all the possible combinations, like for a little science experiment but on cookies. First, I tested coconut oil instead of vegan butter as I thought it was a less processed option for my cookies.

But it’s disappointing, the vegan cookies overspread with coconut oil and end up thin, too hard, and crispy. I then learned that coconut oil is 100% pure fat, while melted vegan butter contains a decent percentage of water that activates the gluten of the flour. So, to get the pillowy, soft cookie texture I wanted, a good quality vegan butter is the key ingredient.

The Magic Of Flax Eggs

The next part was to replace the egg, which I thought wasn’t needed since most vegan cookie recipes work by simply changing the ratio of other ingredients.

Believe me, after many trials, I can guarantee you won’t get a chewy chocolate cookie without a flax egg. Flax meal is almost pure fiber, and when combined with lukewarm water, it forms a gel-like mixture that adds chewiness to a cookie dough.

Brown And White Sugar For Texture

After accepting that a true cookie is not about being healthy, but about texture and taste, I started learning about the importance of sugar types in cookies.

This rule applies to vegan cookie too, and it comes out that an equal ratio of brown sugar and white sugar is actually the true secret of chewy, crispy edges in cookies without eggs.

How To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

There’s nothing difficult about baking a batch of vegan cookies, but, for the best result don’t swap ingredients.

The Choice of Ingredients

All you need to make bakery-style vegan cookies are:

• Vegan Butter – You need softened vegan butter or an already soft vegan margarine for this cookie recipe. Don’t use softened coconut oil. I tried, and the results are not what you expect from a cookie. It creates hard, thin cookies with no chewiness.
• Brown Sugar – Light soft brown sugar decreases air pockets in cookies while creaming the sugar in softened vegan butter. Therefore, it prevents the cookies from spreading too much and keeps them compact.
• White Sugar – White sugar is the key to aerating the cookie dough and making creamy puffy cookies.
• Plant-Based Milk of choice – Any plant-based milk works as long as it’s room temperature not too cold. You can use any almond milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, or soy milk.
• All-Purpose Flour – or white spelt flour, both work fine. If you prefer almond flour, try my Almond Flour Chocolate Chips Cookies.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda are used as raising agents. Make sure you use a fresh batch, or the cookies won’t puff up.
• Flaxseed Meal – Make a fresh batch of flax meal from grounded flax seed then combine it with lukewarm water to activate the fiber. This forms a natural egg replacer that will add a true chewy cookie texture that we all love in bakery-style cookies.
• Vanilla Extract – To add an extra touch of flavor and make these cookies perfect.
• Salt – is optional but it does balance the sweetness of the cookie
• Dark Chocolate Chips – Not all dark chocolate is vegan, so pick vegan chocolate chips!

Make A Flax Egg

1. First, prepare the flaxseed egg. In a small mixing bowl whisk the flaxseed meal and water. Set it aside for about 10 minutes or until it looks like an eggy texture (photo 1).

Cream Sugar And Vegan Butter

2. Combine the softened vegan butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl or stand mixer (photo 2).
3. Then, use an electric beater or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, and beat the vegan butter and sugar (photo 3).
4. Stop beating when it looks creamy and smooth (photo 4).

Making Vegan Cookie Dough

5. Now, beat in, on low speed, the flaxseed egg from earlier, dairy-free milk, and vanilla extract. When they are well incorporated, it’s time to add the dry ingredients (photo 5).
6. Stop the beater and add all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat again until the cookie dough looks super creamy, and buttery (photo 6).
7. Finally, fold in the vegan chocolate chips, and beat again on low speed until incorporated evenly (photo 7).

Chilling The Dough

8. Chill the dough for 15 minutes, not more. Chilling the vegan cookie dough helps control the spread of the cookies and prevents them cookies from overspreading and ending up super thin. If you over-chill the dough, the cookies won’t spread as well on the baking sheet (photo 8).

Forming Vegan Cookies

9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large cookie sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper. Scoop out 2 to 3 tablespoons of vegan cookie dough. Roll it between your hands to form a ball or use a medium cookie scoop and release it on the baking sheet. You should be able to form 10 to 12 cookies.

Baking The Cookies

10. Leave at least 4 inches of space (10 cm) between each cookie and place them away from the edges of the pan by 2 inches (5 cm). Leave a thumb of space between each cookie dough ball because they expand in the oven.
11. Lightly flatten the top of each cookie, but not too much because the cookies will expand. If you overly flatten them, they result in super-thin cookies. Bake in the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 12 to 14 minutes or until the sides and top are golden-brown.

Cooling Down

12. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet before using a flat tool to slide under each of them to transfer them onto a cooling rack. The cookies are still soft and fragile just after coming out of the oven. That’s normal. The cookies will firm up as they cool down.
13. You can then sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top of the cookies.

Frequently Asked Questions