Supathin Supachewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So everybody has their preference on chocolate chip cookies..and everyone seems to have a recipe to swear by. Crispy, chewy, soft, crunchy, thick or thin are some of the words people might use to describe their favorites. Well I don't claim to understand people who like crunchy cookies, and to me a crunchy chocolate chip cookie would be a failure, but to each his own. My favorites are thin and chewy and if those are the two adjectives you'd use to describe your ideal CCC, then this recipe might become your favorite too.

Supathin Supachewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 24 large thin cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (bleached actually works better, but I know you probably only buy unbleached. It's ok..the ones in the picture were made with unbleached. Bleached results in a less oily cookie though.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar (or more granulated sugar with a teeeeny bit of molasses)

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons almond milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips (Mini ones work really well if you'd rather have chips that are proportional to the height of the cookies. I used regular for the ones in the picture. I can't decide which I like better.)

Preheat oven to 375F.   

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the Earth Balance and sugars together until light and fluffy.  

Beat in corn syrup, almond milk and vanilla.

On low speed, gradually add the reserved dry ingredients and mix on low until combined.  Add chocolate chips and mix on low for 5 seconds.  

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. (Greasing makes them excessively oily. They already have a very high fat content.) Drop slightly heaping tablespoons of batter about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet (I can get 8 per sheet without them running together).  Bake for 7-8 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden. They will look a little undercooked in the middle, but not totally raw. Remove cookie sheet from oven and wait 3 minutes before gently sliding the whole parchment sheet to a rack or counter to cool completely. You can reuse the parchment sheet for the next group, but wipe it off first. These cookies sweat out a lot of oil.

I love how big the chips are in relation to the cookie.
These cookies are very upfront about the number of chips they contain.

So thin you can see through!

And bend with your mind.

I also have some pie pictures to share..some Thanksgiving and after Thanksgiving pies. I also believe I have a new favorite.

In the front is the Pumpkin Cheesecake from Vegan Pie in the Sky and in the back, also from Vegan Pie in the Sky is my new favorite pie...banoffee! (Seriously, banoffee! requires an exclamation point following it.) Both were made with a gluten free crust to accommodate my celiac cousin. The crusts were a mix of pecans, sugar, brown rice flour and Earth Balance. I liked the crusts, but damn that many nuts is expensive.

The pumpkin cheesecake is one of those recipes that everyone talks so highly of, so I had to make it. I think I am the only one in the world that doesn't really care for it though. My family thought it was great. On the other hand, I am in love with banoffee!, where as it did not receive the rave reviews of the pumpkin. Maybe bananas were just not tradition-friendly for this occasion. It's ok, banoffee!, I will make and eat enough of you to make up for everyone who doesn't think bananas belong at a Thanksgiving table.

After Thanksgiving when the price of a 3 lb bag of cranberries went from $5.50 to $3 (Ah, the magic of supply and demand), I made the cranberry custard pie from Vegan Desserts.

I liked this one because I like pretty much everything with loads of cranberries. I find the whipped topping unnecessary, but interesting and I do recommend halving the topping recipe if you make it. I was lazy and just slapped it on top instead of piping it, so it wasn't pretty enough to be in the photo. I also used a premade graham crust. (Lay-zaaaay piemaker that I am.) I could totally eat the batter for this one with a spoon.. I almost posted a picture of the batter but it rather resembled a particular uniquely colored indigestion medicine. (As beautiful as that color may be..)

Halloween slutty brownies

Have you heard about slutty brownies? If you're on Pinterest, there's small chance that you haven't. For the rest of you, these brownies are an incredibly decadent and somewhat ridiculous dessert. The slutty brownie consists of three layers. A chocolate chip cookie dough layer, a layer of Oreos and a brownie layer all baked together into one undeniably rich and inescapable little square. In other words, there is no saying no to these. I brought these to work last week and people are still talking about them.

Searching online for vegan slutty brownies brought me to this picture from Word Vomit Wednesday that perfectly sums up the feeling you get from these brownies.

Yep, that's about the response I got from everyone who ate these. And then there's always the wonderfully guilty pleasure we vegans have of informing people the incredibly decadent mouthgasm they just had was vegan! (And then you get to explain, yes, Oreos are vegan.) I've noticed lately this isn't such a surprise anymore for a lot of people, but that's a topic for another day.

Since it's October and since I've always had a slight obsession with Halloween Oreos, these are Halloween slutty brownies. It's the only appropriate way to use Halloween and slutty in the same sentence. (We'll save the tirade about degrading costume options for women and girls for another time. Or maybe tomorrow.) These can also be palm oil-free if you use the Whole Foods 365 brand chocolate sandwich cookies instead of Oreos. Last time I checked, the filling was made with canola oil instead of palm. Also, these delicious treats use no Earth Balance and are pantry friendly!

Vegan slutty brownies

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Make one recipe of Isa's chocolate chip cookies and plop the dough into your pan. I dyed half of my dough orange, but it ended up not being too visible. If you don't have tapioca flour, I think it would be ok to use cornstarch in this recipe.

Spread it out and add a layer of Oreos. I didn't have quite enough for an even layer because I ate a few. (Oops.) 24 should have been enough for my 9x13 pan. Feel free to break the Oreos in half to fit though. 

Next make the brownie layer. This recipe is based on the Sweet Pea Bakery brownie recipe published in VegNews a few years back. (FYI, this is the only brownie recipe I ever use and it is simply THE best. Double it if you are just making brownies.)

Brownie layer

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brewed coffee (I just use instant coffee crystals mixed in water since I don't ever make coffee.)

1 tablespoon flax seed meal

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt together. Add coffee, flax, water, oil and vanilla and mix. Stir in chocolate chips. (If you think the chocolate chips will be a little over the top, you can leave them out and I won't hold it against you.)

Pour over Oreo layer.

Smooth it out so all of the Oreos are covered.

Peekaboo!

Bake your slutty brownies for 25-35 minutes. It's ok if they're slightly underdone...it will just add to the gooey sexiness, but I baked mine for a full 35 minutes, until the top had that signature brownie crust and they were still soft (and perfect) in the middle. Cool for at least 2 hours. (I know! Torture!) Slice into squares as small or as large as you dare. I'm rarely a small slicer, but these are so incredibly rich, I do recommend little pieces! 

Too big!

Just right!

I am also going to end each post with a picture that reminds me why I'm vegan.

Happy Halloween! 

Up next: Halloween nanaimo bars