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!
can i make with no butter???
Hi there, we haven’t tried this recipe without butter and we’re afraid it would change the final result pretty drastically if you omitted it. If you want a more wholesome cookie, we recommend trying these breakfast cookies.
Nisha! Girl, you were NOT lying that these cookies are the ultimate. I can’t begin to tell you how many plant-based chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve tried and tweaked but they always either turn out puffy and caky, or don’t hold together and have greasy bottoms.
Not these! These are chewy, have crispy edges, and hold together beautifully. Everything I want in a chocolate chip cookie!
The only thing I did differently was I used hot aquafaba instead of hot water to make the flax egg, but followed the rest of the recipe exactly as written. Thank you for bringing chocolate chip cookies back into my life!
Your review made our day, Heather! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We’re so glad to help you bring chocolate chip cookies back into your life 🙂
Oh my..
Super delicious cookies <3 Perfect gift
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Sanna!
So good. Made for a baby shower and everyone (vegan and not) gobbled them up. To be honest they are a little too rich for my taste. A little too sweet, a little too buttery. Like a cookie
From a shop. I prefer a crispier, less rich cookie but for the shower these were perfect.
We appreciate the feedback and support, Sarah!
HOLY #%(* these are amazing. A couple times I tried to just eat a half and save the other half for later and both times I failed. They’re too good.
Thanks for the stellar review, Kat!
This is THE best recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I’ve made it multiple times and it never fails! We don’t eat eggs so the flaxseed meal replacement worked wonders. I used dairy butter instead of vegan as that’s what I had, but plan to substitute vegan next time. Thanks so much!
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Supriya!
Love this recipe, but the only vegan butter I had access to was Earth Balance Buttery Sticks. Unfortunately, when it’s melted, it takes on an awful fishy aroma and taste. I worry it’s ruined the flavor of the cookies. Has anyone else had this experience?
Yeah it’s because vegan butter doesnt really brown like regular butter maybe u can add a tablespoon of nut butter to help
This recipe was great just a few changes, chia seeds instead of flaxseed, and since I was using dairy butter I decided to make half browned and half softened as I didn’t want it to end up crumbly since that’s how it usually turns up when I brown it. Also added some toasted milk powder. Tasted great!
We’re glad you enjoyed the cookies, An!
What an amazing recipe. I truly appreciate all of the thought that went into this. Recipe testing is not easy. EatPastry’s dough is good, but cooked? Not so much. And please do not get me started on Sweet Loren’s. These cookies are perfect. Gooey middle and crispy edges to dunk in a glass of soy milk. The only thing is I measured each ingredient to the gram and only ended up with eleven 72g cookies. I let them rest in the fridge for a day and then transferred into the freezer. They’re perfect to keep around and just pop one in the oven for dessert. I will be bringing these to every gathering because I love being complimented on a recipe just to tell everyone at the end that they’re VEGAN muahaha!
Your review made our day, Carleá! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and for trying out the recipe.
The best home-made cookies I’ve ever had! They’re so good and definitely worth waiting 24 hours. We baked two batches in the last couple months, put them in the freezer and had one delicious cookie for dessert whenever we wanted.
One question though: with the second batch cookies tended not to spread as much as with the first one in the oven. The only possible difference I see is that maybe the butter hadn’t had as much time to cool down the second time I baked them. Could this be an explanation? They were delicious anyway.
And a second question : would it hurt the general structure to add some nuts?
Hi, thank you so much for your sweet words about the recipe! If I understand you correctly, you baked these cookies on two separate occasions, and on the second occasion, you didn’t chill the browned butter for as long?
If that’s the case, then yes, this could possibly be the reason they didn’t spread as much, assuming that you use the same brand of butter and that your baking soda is still fresh.
In the future, after baking, if your cookies don’t appear to have spread very much, you can try the “pan banging” technique to encourage spreading. Lift up the pan a few inches and gently bang it down on your kitchen counter. Repeat a couple times.
Hope that helps!
I’ve made these and they are amazing!!! Wondering how adding walnuts would would affect the recipe?
Hi Nancy, it makes us so happy to know you love the cookies! 🙂
For the best flavor, toast your nuts first (5–8 minutes at about 350ºF should work), then chop them.
Don’t overdo the mix-ins. If you add too many nuts, 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 add ins.
Add the nuts after the second batch of dry ingredients and chopped chocolate are mostly mixed in, just before you finish the dough.
The mix-ins 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.
Best of luck to you!
Great recipe – worked out great. Definitely chill the dough but DO NOT forget to make the balls before chilling it
We’re happy you enjoyed the recipe, MR!
I’ve made these four times. The first two times, they were perfect. Last week, I made them for my daughter, who was visiting for the holidays. I messed those up. I think my flax:water ratio was off. I knew it didn’t look right, but I didn’t trust my gut. Big mistake. They were “tasteable,” but not edible.
I made them again two days ago. I couldn’t wait, and I plopped it into the oven after resting about six hours. It tasted great, but it didn’t spread out as I expected. I made two more tonight (if you only eat one at a time, you’re not living!) and they spread out.
I’m sorry I screwed them up for my daughter, because these truly are the best cookies. Fortunately for me, my daughter still loves me – just a *tiny* bit less.
Hi Chip, that is so sweet of you to bake these for your daughter. She is a lucky girl!
Also, truly, we have all been there. One tiny measurement being off (especially with flax) can completely change the outcome, and trusting your gut in the kitchen is a learned skill.
I am glad the redemption batch delivered, and it sounds like you nailed the spread on the latest round. Fingers crossed the next time your daughter is in town, the cookies behave themselves from start to finish!
i might need to make this recipe 20x more times, i am curious why the cookies i made in the 1/4 measure cup maintained their spherical shape and didnt flatten much in the oven after 16 min at 350, followed each measurement meticulously though, the NY Brooklyn apt was also VERY cold, but i made sure the violife butter was indeed room temp before browning, and put it in the fridge to cool too. and dry air, could it have something to do with that? the dough rested in the fridge 24 hours, baking soda fresh and everything. i love the recipe a lot though but need practice in getting cookies to flatten in the oven.
I couldnt find unsalted Violide butter, could it have something to do with unsalted vs salted butter?
Hi Sonia, let’s try to troubleshoot!
Cold, dry environments do matter, as cold dry winter air can keep the dough firmer going into the oven, which slows spread before the structure sets. You could try leaving the cookie dough out of the fridge until it’s not as rock hard, then bake it.
You can also try slightly flattening the dough balls before baking them.
Another technique that can encourage spreading: after removing the pan from the oven, bang the pan down on the counter, known as the “banging the pan” technique. This typically causes the cookies to spread more and to get chewier. I’m linking a video for visual reference.
Is it possible your oven runs hotter than stated? Do you have an oven thermometer? If your oven is considerably hotter than stated on the temperature, the cookies will be thicker and won’t spread as much.
The salted vs unsalted shouldn’t matter. We use Violife salted butter (I’m not even sure they make unsalted butter).
Hope these ideas help!
Thank You Kaitlin, this recipe is worth repeating a ton as I am 100% sure its the best one for cookies!! i love that im learning so much about the chemistry here, i will keep you posted on the next batch
You’re welcome, and sounds good! 🙂
There is no need to ever look for another chocolate chip cookie recipe ever again. This is it. It is perfect exactly as it is here, and wows every single time.
Your review made our day, Holly! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and for trying out the recipe.
These are the best cookies I’ve ever made, vegan or not. Followed all of your recommendations exactly except I used miyokos salted butter as it’s what I had. Perfect.
Literally the best cookies I’ve ever made or tried. My very meat-and-potatoes family members are visiting for Christmas and they were blown away by these cookies. My sister-in-law even asked if we could bake another batch together (I said yes!). My first time using Violife butter, which was a new butter brand to me but I’m very impressed by it.
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Eliza!
SO GOOD! I searched for this recipe so I can keep a Christmas Eve family tradition of hot chocolate & chocolate chip cookies for my toddler who has an egg allergy. I made these with only one modification of using browned dairy butter. Cookies were a little bit thicker, with a chocolate gooey center (which I didn’t mind). I’m not sure if they didn’t spread as much because of the butter, temperature of dough or over mixing. Looking forward to making the remaining cookies on Christmas Eve – and adding this recipe as part of my egg-free dessert rotation for our whole family!
Thanks for the sweet review, Red! It’s good to hear the recipe was a hit 🙂
Love these! Already excited to make them again!
Sweet! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, Anne!
Mine came out fluffier than the ones in the picture, but they are so delicious (and pretty!). Of course, the higher quality chocolate, the better!!
mine are fluffy too! never flattened, i need practice
It makes us happy to know you enjoyed the recipe, Alex!