Super-Duper Vegan Cookies

These are by far some of the best cookies I've ever had. The wonderful Dreena Burton's Eat, Drink & Be Vegan's "Super-Charge Me! Cookies" are these fantastic lumps of tastiness. They're like the vegan version of the ideal chocolate chip cookie, but far better.

To tell the truth, I wasn't the one who picked out these cookies to make last week; it was my nephew Tyler. We were celebrating his 13th birthday (a bit late) by spending a day together, like we've done each year for the past few years. We also selected a couple of healthy vegetable-based recipes for lunch, but these cookies were definitely the big winner.



Dreena's original recipe calls for spelt flour, but we went for 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all-purpose. Tyler liked the result of using the half and half mixture because it gave texture to the cookie along with the oats, carob chips, coconut and dried cherries (a substitution for raisins). We both really enjoyed the chewiness and the richness of the cookies from the cashew macadamia nut butter we used instead of the almond butter. (Source note: Try Trader Joe's cashew macadamia nut butter for any nut butter in a recipe. It works beautifully.)



Finally, the new oven yielded excellent results, taking only 8 minutes to come to temperature. Luckily, I'd tested this early, so I didn't have to waste gas preheating the oven for the length of time it took (relatively short) to prep the cookies for baking.

Otherwise, aside from using 3 oz of agave nectar for the 1/2 cup of maple syrup, we didn't alter the recipe much. Per usual, I dropped the oven temp by 25 degrees F. Usually that means I have to bake the cookies longer, but not so with the new oven. Just 6 minutes, then turn the tray, then another 6 minutes. The cookies baked perfectly!

One last bit -- the recipe calls for flattening the cookies slightly (and rightly so). We forgot that part, but the scoop-shaped lumps we enjoyed were not affected in the least.

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan is very reasonably priced, and I highly recommend buying a copy. You will definitely use it.