Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Most people know that chilling cookie dough stops cookies from spreading too much, but did you know it has many other benefits?

In fact, chilling your cookie dough for 2 to 3 days will result in much better cookies than when chilled for just 30 minutes. It's a bit like why retarding bread dough in the fridge is a really good idea.

You see, while your cookie dough chills out in the fridge, the fat is hardening, the flour is hydrating, the sugar is absorbing moisture, the dough is getting a little drier and increasing the percentage of overall sugar, and the proteins and starches in the flour are breaking down.

All of this makes for much better cookies! They will bake and brown more evenly, spread just the perfect amount, get even more perfectly crispy edges and soft, chewy centres, and their flavour will be richer and way more complex.

King Arthur has a great Chilling Cookie Dough article with comparison pictures if you want to see a visual of this.

30 minutes is the minimum time to chill your dough, but if you are willing to be really committed, I recommend leaving it for a full 2 or 3 days. You will notice a huge difference. Try it and thank me later! 😉

Here in Canada, the 2 biggest sugar producers, Rogers and Red Path, are both vegan, and in the UK and Europe, pretty much all sugar is vegan. If you are in the US, you will need to be more careful and research what brands are vegan in your area. Some common ones that you should be able to find easily and that are vegan include Wholesome Sweeteners, Kirkland Organic Cane Sugar, Trader Joe's, Bob's Red Mill, Florida Crystals, Billington's, Michigan Sugar Company, Imperial, Now Foods, and In The Raw. Also, all organic sugar is vegan by default wherever you are in the world.

This cookie dough freezes really well. Make it, roll into balls, then lay out on a lined baking tray. Pop the entire tray in the freezer and let the balls harden up, then transfer them to a freezer bag or container where they can hang out for up to 3 months. Bake as you need them. You will need to add on an extra minute or 2 to the bake time.

Yes, these cookies freeze really well for up to 6 months. Be sure to separate layers with some parchment paper so they don't stick together. I like to defrost them on a wire rack so air can circulate around them. They don't take long at all.

It could be one of many reasons or a combination. Most common:
- The baking powder/baking soda had expired or had been open too long.
- The cookie dough was not chilled.
- Your oven is running a little hot. Most ovens, unless calibrated, are not entirely accurate, and if your oven temperature is off, this will affect the spread of your cookies. Make sure you are baking the recipe according to the oven directions (my recipes are all tested in a conventional oven), and make sure your oven is calibrated.
- You didn't weigh your ingredients. Measuring with cups isn't accurate, and cookies need accuracy. Time to buy a scale!
- You used a Silpat / silicone baking sheet - They are slippery, so the cookies spread much more than they would on an unlined tray or on parchment paper.
- You are at a high altitude.  If you are baking at 3,500 feet or more above sea level, you may need to make adjustments to the recipe.

You didn't use a scale. Measuring with cups isn't accurate, and cookies need accuracy. When using cups, it's really easy to inadvertently use too much flour. Everybody fills them differently and every single cup you fill weighs a different amount. This affects the butter-to-flour ratio, and your cookies won't spread if there's too much flour. Time to buy a scale!
Or, your oven temperature is a little cooler than intended, causing the spread of the cookies to be slower.

This recipe has not been tested with gluten-free flour, but Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour usually works well in my cookie recipes.