My Recipe for Amazing Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

These chocolate chip cookies are cruelty free-but they're so delicious no one will be able to tell the difference. The secret is in using high quality vegan butter in the cookies (many vegan recipes substitute oil, which results in oily as opposed to rich cookies) and in the egg replacer, which enables the cookies to be fluffy instead of crisp.

2 ¼ cup unbleached flour

1 tsp baking powder or baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup vegan butter (I recommend Earth Balance)

¾ cup unbleached sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

2 Ener-G egg replacer

1 12 oz. package semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Chances are you don't have all of these specialty ingredients just laying around your pantry, so here's some advice for when you go searching for them: For the flour and sugar, make sure you get unbleached, because some companies bleach their flour and sugar using animal bones. This is easily avoided by buying organic flour and sugar and checking the ingredients label. For the butter, Earth Balance is the best brand. It also has a handy way to measure out a cup of butter written on the package. Many stores do not carry the Ener-G egg replacer, even health food stores. Check at smaller stores and if all else fails, ask if they can order it for you. As for the chocolate chips, many dark and semi-sweet chocolate chips are already vegan, but check the ingredients for milkfat. And don't worry-cocoa butter IS vegan.

Now you're ready to bake! Preheat the oven to 375º and get out measuring cup and spoons, a small bowl, and two large mixing bowls. In your small bowl prepare the egg replacer as directed on the box. It should have roughly the consistency of ganache. In one of your mixing bowls combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and sift together. In the other (preferably larger) mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter, both sugars, vanilla, and egg replacer. Gradually add the dry contents into the wet, and fold in the chocolate chips. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 5-9 minutes. They will NOT turn brown the way non-vegan cookies do, so you just have to watch them. After five minutes just poke into a cookie and if it is still wet, wait another two minutes or so. You might destroy one cookie doing this, especially if it is your first time baking them, but after a few batches you will know exactly how long your oven takes to bake the perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie.

Afterwards, eat and enjoy!

Makes roughly 24 large cookies or 4 dozen small cookies (about two batches, but how many depends on how you drop 'em).