Thanks to #bakingscience, over two dozen tests, a careful blend of ingredients, and a little baking magic, we’ve arrived at the perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Every bite is textural heaven, with soft and gooey middles, crisp edges, and a serious chewiness throughout.
And their flavor? These cookies are rich and buttery, with notes of caramel interspersed with melty pools of dark chocolate and flaky sea salt.
I can’t think of anything better. It’s truly my ultimate chocolate chip cookie! And they can even be made gluten-free, YAY!
Table of Contents:
1. Baking Science
2. Ingredient notes
3. Step-by-step instructions
4. Tips for making this recipe
5. Frequently Asked Questions
6. Recipe card with notes
Watch: How to Make Amazing Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
With over 160K views on YouTube, these chocolate chip cookies are a huge hit with my audience. I hope you love them just as much!
Baking Science = The Perfect Cookie
No shortage of research and testing went into this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. I spent days if not weeks reading about cookie science from the experts and only then we got started with recipe testing:
Armed with research, my recipe tester Callie and I tested every practical variable:
a) chocolate chips vs. chopped chocolate vs. chocolate feves
b) browned butter vs. creamed butter vs. coconut oil
c) brown sugar vs. white sugar vs. both
d) the ideal time to rest cookie dough before baking
e) various oven temperatures
f) gluten-free alternatives
g) different vegan butter brands
All in all, we baked 300+ cookies to develop our perfect grown-up chocolate chip cookie that has:
– a soft and rich middle
– lovely crispy edges
– wonderful chewiness throughout
– a deep caramel-esque flavor
– big melty pools of chocolate
Here’s just a very small sampling of some of the variables we tested.
Ingredient notes
Vegan butter
You’ll rarely find a chocolate chip cookie recipe without butter…and a lot of it. Most cookie recipes either use creamed, softened butter or melted butter…or a variation of melted butter: browned butter. In our tests, browned butter was the clear winner.
Melting butter, as opposed to creaming it, produces a more pronounced chewy texture. Taking the melting a step further to browning adds a more mature, nutty, and caramelized flavor.
We recommend butter sticks, not in a tub (the sticks are formulated to mimic dairy-based butter better).
Tips for browning vegan butter
Vegan butter doesn’t brown the same way as dairy butter because it doesn’t contain milk proteins, but it will still become slightly darker in color and nutty in aroma after 5 to 6 minutes, depending on the brand used.
Use a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan so you can see the color change.
Sadly, our favorite vegan butter brand (Violife) was discontinued as of summer 2026, but we recently re-tested this recipe with Earth Balance buttery sticks, which are widely available, and it worked great!
The butter doesn’t brown as much as dairy-based butter but still changes a color a bit (and the flavor improves over time).
NOTE: If your butter is unsalted, use a bit of extra salt, a heaping ¾ teaspoon instead of ½ teaspoon.
Flax egg
We tested these cookies with a few other vegan egg replacers and found that flax eggs (ground flaxseed mixed with water) worked the best. They bind the dough together and, when baked, give the cookies a delightful chewiness, which is typically what eggs do.
All-purpose flour
No fancy flour is needed here. All-purpose flour worked best at giving the cookies a classic chewy-soft texture.
Gluten-free? Check out the FAQ section to find out which flour substitutions work best.
Dark brown sugar + cane sugar
There’s a reason why most chocolate chip cookies combine brown sugar and white sugar: white sugar only = thin and crispy cookies; brown sugar only = the cookies don’t spread much so you have a soft, almost cakey center.
Here, a 2:1 ratio of dark brown sugar to white sugar delivers soft centers, chewiness throughout, and nicely crisped edges.
Shopping Tips: For strictly vegan cookies, buy organic sugars (at least in the US, where conventional sugars are typically processed with animal bone char). If you can’t find dark brown sugar, light brown sugar still works well.
Baking soda
Baking soda (AKA bicarbonate of soda outside the U.S.) helps the cookies spread while baking, leading to evenly baked cookies that aren’t too thick.
We tested a variation of this recipe with baking powder as a substitute, and it gave us cookies that were puffy and cakey—no thanks!
How to tell if baking soda is fresh
Combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 teaspoons vinegar in a small bowl. If it bubbles immediately, it’s still fresh.
If you see no bubbles or only slight bubbles, it’s time for new baking soda.
Bittersweet or dark chocolate
In our many tests, the best cookies were made not with chocolate chips but with dark chocolate bars, somewhere in the 60% to 75% cacao content range.
Chopped dark chocolate bars offer several advantages over chocolate chips.
- Most chocolate chips contain melt-resistant chocolate → cookies with localized pockets of chocolate.
- In contrast, chopped chocolate bars = melty chocolate pools and chocolate interspersed throughout the dough 😋
- Chopped chocolate bars melt better → more moisture in the dough → the cookies spread a bit more and don’t end up cakey.
- It’s easier to find dark chocolate in bar form than in chips, which prevents the cookies from being overly sweet.
Pure vanilla extract and sea salt
I always pair vanilla and salt together in desserts because they work together to bring out the other layers of flavors. Without them, the flavor would be a bit flat.
A little flaky sea salt sprinkled on top of the freshly baked cookies also balances the sweetness and enhances the dark chocolate flavor. We love Maldon flaky salt—just a little goes a long way!
Step-by-step instructions
Brown the butter: Add the vegan butter to a light-colored skillet or saucepan. Turn to medium heat and allow the butter to melt, stirring occasionally.
Once foamy and at a bubble, stir or swirl the pan frequently, or until it gives off a nutty aroma and is slightly darker in color. Immediately pour it into a bowl, then refrigerate for ~30 minutes to bring the butter to room temp.
Tip: Wait until the butter cools to room temp or your dough will be too sticky!
Next, make the flax eggs: whisk the flaxseed meal with warm water. Set it aside to gel.
Meanwhile, coarsely chop the chocolate.
Combine the dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, combine the flax eggs, cooled brown butter, brown sugar, cane sugar, and vanilla.
Beat the liquid ingredients with an electric mixer until well combined, thick, and gooey.
Use a silicone spatula to fold half of the dry ingredients into the fluffy wet mixture until no dry spots remain.
Add the remaining dry ingredients and the chocolate chips and fold until just combined.
Scoop out cookie dough rounds with a ¼ cup measuring cup (or a large cookie scoop like this or this) onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. No need to space them out since they’re going to chill.
Refrigerate until cookie dough balls are set. Afterward, you can transfer them to a reusable bag or container and refrigerate for 24 hours or up to 72 hours.
When it’s time to bake:
Preheat your oven and line a sheet pan with parchment. Space 6 cookie dough rounds on the pan, leaving 3 inches (7.5 cm) of space in between each (these babies are going to spread).
Bake until the edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center, 14 to 16 minutes.
Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack for another 5 minutes.
Tips for nailing this recipe
TL;DR: the 2 most important tips
The best cookies have two important features: (1) chopped chocolate bars (not chips) and (2) the dough has rested in the fridge for 24 hours or longer.
So, if you don’t have time to refrigerate the cookie dough: it’s even more important to use chopped dark chocolate over chocolate chips.
Or, if you only have access to chocolate chips, not dark chocolate bars, it’s even more important to rest the dough for 24 hours or longer.
Resting the dough is the most important thing you can do
When the cookie dough rests in the fridge, the flavors meld together and the dough gets hydrated, giving you a cookie with significantly better flavor (more complex, richer, caramel-like) AND significantly better texture (crisp edges and the chewiest, gooey-ist center; not at all cakey or thick).
Tips for resting cookie dough
If you’re really short on time, even a shorter rest of 8 hours (or even 2 to 4 hours!) makes a difference. Or, if a 12 hour rest works better for your schedule, that’s totally fine.
You can refrigerate the cookie dough for up to 72 hours. Any longer than that, and the rested cookie dough should then go into the freezer.
Life hack: Need a cookie NOW? Bake one cookie after making the dough but save the rest of the cookie dough rounds for tomorrow or the next day.
Use dark chocolate bars (not chocolate chips)
In our many tests, dark or bittersweet chocolate bars between 65-75% gave us the best result. If you prefer things a bit sweeter, use 60% dark chocolate. If you prefer less sweet desserts, use chocolate in the 75+% to 80% range.
If you only have chocolate chips: a few important notes:
(1) use dark chocolate chips (anything below 60% cacao, and these will be too sweet);
(2) refrigerating the dough for 24 hours (or longer) will dramatically improve the cookies.
In our tests, cookies made with chocolate chips that were baked immediately were underwhelming in flavor and were thicker, puffier, and cakier. Luckily, after a 24-hour rest, though, the cookies improved A LOT.
Large cookies > small cookies (by a long shot)
Here’s why: larger cookies don’t bake through as quickly as small cookies, which means you get gooey, soft centers paired with irresistibly crisp edges—a perfect balance of textures.
On the other hand, small cookies bake too evenly, resulting in a uniform texture that lacks depth. And the fine folks at America’s Test Kitchen agree.
Worried the big cookies are too much for one sitting? No problem! Share with a friend, or slice them in half for a smaller treat. Trust me, this is infinitely more satisfying than settling for a batch of tiny cookies.
Measure with a digital scale
If you have a kitchen scale, use it to measure all of the ingredients. Not only is it more precise than measuring cups, but you will have fewer dishes to wash (win-win!).
Don’t bake on warm pans
Let your sheet pan cool to room temperature before putting more cookie dough balls on the pan. Warm sheet pans will cause the cookies to spread more.
To speed things up, simply run your pan under cool water.
Resist the urge to overbake
Pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges are just starting to set, but when the middle is still soft and gooey. They’ll continue to bake a bit on the pans for ~10 minutes before you transfer them to a cooling rack.
Frequently Asked Questions
As much as I want you to indulge in these cookies as quickly as possible, letting the dough rest for 24 hours really does make a big difference (check out the Tips section for more on this).
Even an 8- or 12-hour rest makes a big difference. Really short on time? In our tests, even a 2-hour rest yielded a better cookie than a cookie baked immediately.
And cookies rested for 48 hours taste even better, so you can always “prep” the cookie dough and bake them a couple days later.
If you can’t bake the cookies with 72 hours of refrigeration, though, you should freeze the cookie dough.
We recommend using vegan butter sticks, as they are formulated to mimic dairy butter in baking better than the margarine or butter in tubs.
Our long-time favorite butter brand, Violife, was recently discontinued. Luckily, our recent tests with Earth Balance Buttery Sticks turned out great (in fact, my partner Max thinks the cookies made with Earth Balance are even better).
Use the same amount of refined coconut oil (12 tablespoons / ~150g) instead.
The cookies won’t have the same amazing flavor without the browned butter and won’t be as chewy with crisp edges, but they’ll still be tasty (and will NOT taste like coconut if you use refined coconut oil).
I’d also recommend using good-quality dark chocolate to compensate for the loss of flavor and texture.
The coconut oil will harden in the dough, so before baking, let the cookie dough balls sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, or until pliable. If the dough balls have lost their shape, reshape them into balls before baking.
Good news! Our gluten-free test worked out very well!
Replace the 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 ⅓ cups (192g) of gluten-free all-purpose flour and ⅔ cup (76g) of oat flour (certified gluten-free).
It’s also important that your gluten-free flour blend contains xanthan gum, something like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour or King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF Flour (affiliate links).
In our testing, we also found that the gluten-free dough was a bit sticky, so you will likely need to refrigerate it for 10 to 20 minutes before shaping it into balls.
Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes.
Baking one pan of cookies at a time yields the best texture. This is because hot air doesn’t circulate as efficiently in an overcrowded oven.
That said, if you’re in a real rush, you can arrange a rack in the upper-middle and lower-middle of the oven. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. Remove one pan from the oven (closing the door in between to avoid too much heat escaping), then remove the other pan.
Switch the pans’ positions on the racks for even baking and browning, and bake for another 8 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center.
There could be a few potential reasons for this.
(1) Your baking soda isn’t fresh. To test if it’s fresh: combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 teaspoons vinegar in a small bowl. If it bubbles immediately, it’s still fresh. If you see no bubbles or only slight bubbles, it’s time for new baking soda.
(2) You accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda.
(3) You didn’t chill the browned butter for long enough. Make sure it’s not warm!
(4) The brand of butter makes a difference. In our tests, Earth Balance buttery sticks didn’t spread quite as much as our previous favorite butter, Violife, but the flavor/texture ended up being great.
Recommendation: After baking, if your cookies don’t appear to have spread very much, try the Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging technique to encourage a bit more spreading (video instructions here): lift up the pan about 4 inches and bang it down on the oven rack or kitchen counter several times.
If eating within 1 day: store the cookies in an airtight container or sealed ziploc bag on the kitchen counter.
Storing for more than 1 day? These are best stored in the freezer.
1) Stack cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container, separating each one with a piece of parchment paper, then freeze.
2) Take as many cookies as you want to eat out of the freezer.
3) Defrost by setting each cookie on a paper-towel, without the cookies touching. They defrost in ~10 minutes and taste almost identical to freshly baked cookies.
To warm the cookies in the oven: place on a sheet pan (lined with parchment for easier cleanup) and heat at 350ºF / 175ºC for 3 to 5 minutes, or until warm.
You can microwave the cookies but I think the texture isn’t as good.
Absolutely. Shape the dough into balls, chill in the fridge for 24 to 72 hours per the recipe, then freeze any dough balls you don’t bake.
Freeze the balls on a tray until solid, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container.
Yes!
Best results: thaw frozen cookies in the fridge until softened (~ 24 hours). If they have thawed but are still a bit hard, let them sit at room temp for 15 to 30 minutes, then bake.
Don’t have time to thaw in the fridge? Let the frozen cookie dough balls sit out at room temp for 30 minutes, then bake for 16 minutes, or a bit longer.
For crispier cookies:
1) Use more cane sugar (white sugar) than brown sugar. For this recipe, use 3/4 cup (155g) cane sugar. And ¼ cup + 2 TBSP (80g) dark brown sugar, tightly packed.
2) Use 3 TBSP dough (54g) per cookie instead of 1/4 cup (72g).
3) Reduce oven temperatuer to 325ºF / 165ºC.
4) Don’t use parchment paper on your baking pans.
For softer, fluffy cookies:
1) Use all brown sugar, no cane/white sugar. Since dark brown sugar can be a little potent, I recommend ~ half light brown and half dark brown sugar (117g of each).
2) Add 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch to the dry ingredients.
3) Use 3 TBSP dough (54g) per cookie instead of 1/4 cup (72g).
You may need to refrigerate the dough before scooping into rounds.
My recommendation is no. This is because sugar doesn’t just bring sweetness; it also lends structure and moisture. Reducing the amount of sugar will impact the texture of these cookies…and not in a good way.
For a less sweet cookie, use a darker chocolate: 75 to 80% dark chocolate.
More delicious vegan cookies!
If you loved these Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies as much as we do, please give the recipe a rating and review below! And of course, tag me with your remakes on Instagram!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 12 TBSP (168g / 1.5 sticks) vegan butter, sliced into thick pats (see Note 1)
- 2 TBSP (14g) ground flaxseed meal
- 70 mL (~5 TBSP) warm water
- 6 oz (170g) 65% to 75% dark chocolate (see Note 2)
- 2 cups (250g) spooned and leveled all-purpose flour (see Note 3 for GF)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ¾ tsp baking soda (make sure it's fresh, see Note 4)
- ¾ cup (155g) organic dark brown sugar, tightly packed (see Note 5)
- ¼ cup + 2 TBSP (80g) organic cane sugar
- 1 TBSP (15 mL) pure vanilla extract (not imitation extract!)
- Flaky sea salt for finishing
Instructions
- Brown the butter first, as it needs time to cool: Add sliced butter to a stainless steel or light-colored skillet or saucepan. Turn to medium heat. Swirl the pan or stir with a silicone spatula occasionally until melted, foamy, and at a bubble (~ 2 ½ to 3 minutes).Heat for 2 to 3 more minutes, stirring frequently until nutty in aroma and slightly darker (it won't fully brown like dairy butter). Turn off the heat before it starts foaming up the sides of the pan.Immediately pour into a medium bowl to stop cooking, scraping out all of the butter from the pan with the spatula. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until no longer warm but still in liquid form (if the butter is warm, the cookie dough will be sticky).
- Line a large plate or mini sheet pan with parchment paper and place in the fridge to chill.
- Make the flax eggs. In a small bowl, combine the flaxseed meal with 70 mL warm water (this is ~ 5 heaped tablespoons).Whisk well to combine and rest for 15 minutes, whisking again halfway through and once more at the end of the 15 minutes.
- Coarsely chop the dark chocolate (some variation in small/large pieces is nice). Reserve 12 pieces of chopped chocolate to press into the top of each cookie.
- Dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda until well incorporated.
- Wet ingredients: Once the flax eggs have gelled and brown butter has cooled, add both to a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, cane sugar, and vanilla. Use an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, gooey, and thick, about 30 seconds (or use a whisk and arm power for ~45 to 60 seconds).
- Combine: Remove the beaters and switch to a silicone spatula. Add half of the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold with a silicone spatula until just combined.Add the remaining dry ingredients and chopped chocolate (minus reserved 12 pieces for topping). Fold together just until no dry spots remain. If the folding becomes difficult, use your hands to finish the dough. NOTE: The dough should be thick but somewhat soft, not stodgy.
- Scoop out cookie dough rounds. Use a large cookie scoop to measure out ~72g per cookie dough round. OR, use a ¼ cup measuring cup: level off the top and use a small silicone spatula to get the dough out of the measuring cup.TIP: If the dough is too sticky to handle, refrigerate for 20-30 minutes, then shape.
- Chill the dough: Place the dough rounds on the lined plate from the fridge*, but no need to space them out right now. Press a piece of reserved chocolate into the top of each cookie.Refrigerate for 24 hours, or up to 72 hours. If short on time, chill for as long as you can (even 2 hours will give you a better cookie than baking immediately). *Once firm, you can transfer the dough balls to a ziploc bag and refrigerate.
- To bake: preheat the oven to 350ºF / 175ºC and arrange a rack in the center of the oven. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper, or you can leave it bare if your pan is well-worn and made of aluminum or nonstick (see Note 6).Add five or six cookie dough rounds, spacing them 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, as they’ll spread quite a bit.
- Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and a bit set but still gooey and soft in the center (16 minutes if you prefer a slightly crispier edge). TIP: If the cookies have not spread much, lift the pan up by ~4 inches and bang it against the oven rack or your kitchen counter several times—this helps them spread a bit more.
- Finish: While still warm, sprinkle cookies with a little flaky sea salt.Cool in the pans for 10 minutes (5 minutes if lined with parchment), then transfer to a cooling rack to cool for 5 more minutes.
- Cool the pan and bake remaining cookies (or freeze dough to bake later).
Video
Notes
- Since publishing this recipe, our favorite vegan butter (Violife) has been discontinued. That said, we’ve tested these with Earth Balance buttery sticks and they work great.
- Chopped dark chocolate bars = much better than choc chips. For more details & substitutions, check out the Ingredient Notes and Tips sections (tips #1 and #2).
- Check out the FAQ for gluten-free instructions.
- If the baking soda is not fresh, your cookies won’t spread. Combine ¼ tsp baking soda + 2 tsp vinegar in a small bowl. If it doesn’t fizz up immediately, it’s no longer fresh.
- I love dark brown sugar b/c it has nearly double the molasses content, but light brown sugar still works well.
- Unlined sheet pans yield slightly crisper edges. But if your pan is new or not made of aluminum or nonstick, line the pan with parchment paper; otherwise, the cookies stick.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
I’ve made these cookies so many times now! I’m sure I’ll keep coming back to this recipe for years to come. It’s honestly that perfect. I often make them as birthday presents or thank you gifts , and people are always wowed and never notice that they’re vegan. The brown butter adds wonderful depth and the texture is just right.
I’ve made the mistake of skipping the resting step only once – the resting is definitely important. I’ve also played around with different fillings and flavours, subbing some of the chocolate chips for different nuts and using a homemade pistachio or chocolate-hazelnut filling inside. All versions are delicious.
I’m pretty sure this recipe is the best cookie recipe out there! 🙂
Hi! I just tried the recipe but it did not spread out when baking (so they remained quite thick after 15min of baking). Do you know why this might be? The only thing I did differently was using powdered sugar as I ran out of brown sugar, could that cause that issue? I thought they just froze in the fridge…
These are absolutely incredible! So insanely good it is mind blowing. Whenever I want cookies again, this is the only recipe I will use. This recipe is absolutely perfect! Thank you!
Ryan, we appreciate the amazing review! It’s great to hear you’ll return to the recipe 🙂
I baked these for 20 minutes and even after cooling the cookies were still so soft that they couldn’t be picked up in once piece. I know my oven temp can’t be that off because I bake bread and other recipes all the time without any issues. What’s going on? Anyone else dealing with this?
We’re so sorry these didn’t turn out how you hoped, Angela. We haven’t heard of anyone having this issue so far, so I’m a little bit lost at what happened.
Since they were still very soft after 20 minutes, the dough is the first place we’d look.
The flax and warm water need the full 15 minutes to gel, with a whisk halfway through and again at the end. The water should be measured exactly (70 mL, which is 5 heaped tablespoons). Too much water can make the dough wet.
The browned butter should be chilled until it’s no longer warm. Warm butter makes sticky, soft dough that spreads.
Weighing the flour (250g) is the most reliable way to measure it.
The vegan butter brand can matter too, since some spreads have more water than stick-style butters. Did you make any swaps, and which butter did you use?
We’d be happy to help troubleshoot!
These chocolate chip cookies are to die for – every time I host, friends beg for this to be on the dessert table. They are truly the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.
Kay, thank you for your thoughtful review! We’re so happy to hear that you and your friends are big fans of the chocolate chip cookies! 🙂
What is the weight of the butter after browning? Could I skip the browning and just scale it down?
Hi Mika, the browned butter weighs 145g after cooking. We wouldn’t recommend skipping the browning, as it adds a more mature, nutty, and caramelized flavor that makes a big difference in the final result. For the best results, we suggest following the recipe as written.
Best recipe EVER! 🤩
Thank you… simply… thank you! 🙏🏻
Thanks for your wonderful review, Thomas! 🙂
I love this recipe so much, and people are so impressed when I share them. There will always be a batch in my freezer to bake one fresh when I want a delicious treat.
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Jen!
I made these for hubs who is a Scot, and who has never had a choc chip cookie – he loved them! I, as an American, have never had a choc chip cookie either, and I have to say these were fantastic. I’m not really in to chocolate, so the choc seemed too much for me, but I am going to experiment with this recipe and make oatmeal cookies. But, these were fabulous and turned out like Nisha said they would!
Thank you for your lovely review, Rita. We are glad you enjoyed the recipe overall!
Violife butter has been discontinued. After years of making these delicious fail-safe cookies, i’m so disappointed now as the widely available earth balance butter doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t brown and evaporates too much on the stove. Please update the recipe to help with this!
From Nisha: “Hi Mai, we’re sorry the butter situation has thrown off a recipe you’ve relied on for years. We’re so bummed violife has been discontinued, too! I keep messaging them with hopes that they will revive it.
Good news is the ingredient notes section in the post already covers a few other brands. I used to recommend Miyoko’s butter but since they were recently bought out, I don’t know if they’ve changed the product (the original cashew-based product browned much faster, in under 3 minutes, so needed to be watched closely).
In my testing phase, I did test this with Earth Balance buttery sticks and while it didn’t brown the same as Violife, the butter did taste slightly nuttier and it still ended up producing a delicious cookie.
If you want more browning out of Earth Balance, try stirring a teaspoon of almond or cashew butter into the pan with it. The extra protein helps it brown and adds some of that nutty flavor back.
We haven’t tried this with country crock butter but have used it in past recipes like our brown butter peach cobbler, so that’s worth a try too.
Hope that helps, and here’s to hoping that Violife resumes its butter!”
I used Country Crock butter and it worked great.
Omg!! These are soooo good!! I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies and these are my favorite! I used myokos butter. I can’t tell the difference between a non vegan cookie. You definitely don’t get the same heaviness after eating them. Thank you for this recipe😀
Hi Melissa, it’s great to hear you had success with the recipe. Thanks for the review! 🙂
In your YouTube video, you put espresso powder but it’s not included here. How much espresso powder did you put in?
Hi Alyssa, we took it out because one of the brands we used after publishing this recipe didn’t dissolve well and it add little bitter pockets to the cookies, and we didn’t want to risk others to have that experience! If you’d like to add it, add 1 teaspoon espresso powder along with the dry ingredients. Enjoy!
Thank you for replying! I added one tsp of the exact same espresso from your YouTube video. I also put half 75% & half 85% dark chocolate. This is the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve found so far — vegan or non-vegan! My non-vegan family loved it! They couldn’t tell it was vegan. My older son who doesn’t like to eat too much sweets loved it and wanted more. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Woohoo, we’re so glad this recipe was a total hit. Thank you so much for sharing, Alyssa!
The best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. The rest of the family agrees. They are delicious. So delicious.
We’re over the moon to hear everyone enjoyed the cookies, Lucia. Thanks for your kind words!
I made these cookies for my granddaughters and they were the best cookies I have ever made/eaten.
I actually got phone calls from two of my daughter’s friends who stopped by with their kids, tried the cookies and had to have the recipe!
Your review made our day, Larry! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and for trying and sharing the recipe.
Hello! These came out really good, I was wondering how long do the cookies keep in the freezer after baking them?
Hi Maggie, good to hear you enjoyed the cookies, sorry for the late reply here!
We’ve never really been able to test this because they never last that long around here! But our best guess is about three months in an airtight container. When you stack them, put a piece of parchment between each cookie so they don’t stick together. To eat one, set it on a plate for around 10 or 15 minutes until it comes to room temperature.
Planning to try this recipe tomorrow. Can’t wait. Is it customisable ie with different mixers?
Hi Kerry, while we haven’t tried this we think it would be fine! Just make sure not to overdo the mix-ins. If you add too many nuts and dried fruit, the dough can become stiff and dry because there’s proportionally less dough to hold everything together. A good guideline is to start with 1/2 to 3/4 cup total of nuts and dried fruit.
Add the mix-ins after the second batch of dry ingredients and chopped chocolate are mostly mixed in, just before you finish the dough.
The dried may pull moisture from the dough, so if your dough seems too dry, add a teaspoon or two of plant milk to bring the texture back to a slightly tacky, scoopable consistency.
The mix-ins will make the cookies chunkier, which means they might spread less, so you might end up with thicker cookies. You can try slightly pressing the dough balls down just before baking but we haven’t tried that ourselves.
Hope that helps!
Hi Kaitlin
Thanks for your answer. Having chilled the dough balls for almost 48 hours, am now about to bake them, but as the original recipe this time. Excited to try them. I
We hope they turned out well for you, Kerry!
Hi
This recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try. But I only have margarine. Will that work? Also I only have dark chocolate above 85% and really sweat chocolate. Could I possibly just use a mix of these together instead?Please let me know as soon as possible so I can get to baking these soon!
Thankyou!
Hi there, so glad you’re excited to make these!
On the margarine, it might work, but it depends on the type. Baking is sensitive to small changes, especially when it comes to the fat. A firm, stick-style margarine with a high fat content behaves a lot like vegan butter, so that’s your best bet. A soft, spreadable tub margarine holds more water, which can make the dough too wet and throw off how the cookies bake.
So if yours is the stick kind, go for it. If it’s a tub, just know the results might come out a little different. For what it’s worth, refined coconut oil is the swap Nisha specifically recommends here, if you happen to have some on hand.
The chocolate mix should be no problem. Blending your 85% with the sweeter chocolate is a smart way to balance things, since 85% on its own can be a bit too bitter for these cookies. Just mix the two types of chocolate first so that they get evenly dispersed in the dough.
Best of luck to you!
Literally the best cookies I’ve ever had. Super simple recipe. WOW.
Your review made our day, Jake! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and for trying out the recipe.
Hi,
Can I use dough straight after freezing or do I need to thaw it?
Unfortunately, these didn’t turn out well for me. The chopped chocolate didn’t really melt or pool; it just maintained its shape on the top of the cookie. The cookies spread a little bit, but they were still quite thick and not nearly as flat as depicted in the pictures or video. The flavor was fine, though not all that different from what you could buy off the shelf at the store.
I used a scale to measure everything precisely, tested my baking soda to ensure its freshness, chilled the dough for 24 hours, and even chose the same brand of chocolate that Nisha used in the video. Quite a disappointing result!
Oh no, we’re sorry to hear the cookies didn’t turn out as expected! Everyone we’ve made these cookies for says they’re the best chocolate chip cookie they’ve had, so hearing they’re not that different from a store-bought cookie is definitely not what we want to hear! Thanks for sharing all of the steps you took to get this right.
We would guess that the biggest difference in flavor would be the butter you used, both in terms of flavor and perhaps that it didn’t brown in the way intended. This could also affect the amount of spread. Can you share what brand of vegan butter you used?
Another factor that could make the cookies not spread is the temperature of the browned butter. The browned butter should be cooled to room temperature, not chilled and not warm.
Another possibility is overmixing. If the dough gets worked a bit too much once the flour goes in, it can develop more gluten and bake up thicker and more bread-like, with less spread.
To encourage more spread, you can try slightly flattening the dough balls before you bake them. Also, there’s a technique called “banging the pan” — right after you pull the cookies from the oven, bang the pan down on the counter. This encourages more spreading and a chewier texture. [Here’s a video showing exactly what that looks like](https://youtu.be/R1bUPTutPkQ?si=OU2TG1rgFJaxxc0D&t=282).
One other thing worth checking: Do you have an oven thermometer? If not, it’s possible your oven runs cooler than stated, which means the cookies can set before they spread. That could also be why the chocolate held its shape instead of melting into pools. Either way, it’s worth verifying!
Nisha and the team have tested this recipe 25 or more times, so we’re hopeful you can get you to the right results!
I love this recipe and browned butter is a great idea…right now can’t find any type of sticks for some reason so I am trying tahini as part of the butter. I used to make tahini chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz which aren’t vegan. They were fantastic.
Hi Susan, we’d advise against replacing the butter with tahini since they act in completely different ways when it comes to baked goods! That being said, we’re glad you love the recipe 🙂
We (my husband and I) LOVE these cookies. They are so yummy. I follow your directions exactly the way you say and they come out so perfect. Browning the butter really makes a difference. Crispy on the outside, soft and chocolateeeee in the middle. I love how easy they are to scoop out and make a cookie. We freeze all of them (except the first two we eat) and 2 by 2 we take them out, bake ,then enjoy for a treat. Think you Nisha for being so detailed on your recipies.
Those words are music to our ears, Carrie! Thank you for the support 🙂
Help! I didn’t mean for my name to post like that.
Hi Carrie, I updated it for you! 🙂