Best Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's easy to replace eggs in most baked goods by substituting them with vegan egg replacer. There are several packaged egg replacers available which work well. Be sure to follow the package directions before using. You can also make your own by combining one tablespoon ground flax meal with three tablespoons of water (per egg). Allow it to sit 5 - 15 minutes to thicken before using.

• Here's the scoop: Parchment paper may not be necessary, but there are some very useful reasons for using it:
• It can help keep cookie dough from spreading too much while baking. The surface texture or "tooth" of the paper helps hold the dough in place.
• A layer of parchment helps provide even baking by creating air space between the baking sheet & paper which can regulate the overall temperature of the baking surface. Ever notice how some pans get hot spots?
• Parchment also keeps cookies from sticking to the pan, which can be an issue particularly with chocolate chip cookies (if the chips burn onto the pan).
• I always use a layer of parchment whenever I use aluminum foil or an aluminum baking pan. I don't like aluminum to come into contact with my food.
• Finally, using parchment keeps your pans looking new and makes clean-up a whole lot easier.

It's no surprise that chocolate chip cookies are considered the #1 cookie in America, but did you know this beloved dessert treat originated just prior to World War II? Here's the story.

The chocolate chip cookie was invented by American chef Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.^[1] She invented the recipe when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts. In this era, the Toll House Inn was a popular restaurant that featured home cooking. It is often incorrectly reported that she accidentally developed the cookie, and that she expected the chocolate chunks would melt, making chocolate cookies. In fact, she stated that she deliberately invented the cookie. She said, "We had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream. Everybody seemed to love it, but I was trying to give them something different. So I came up with Toll House cookie."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_chip_cookie

I have to admit, I love cookie dough. In fact, when I was a kid, I enjoyed eating raw cookie dough as much as I liked baked cookies. I knew that it wasn't a good idea and the raw eggs in the dough could make me sick, but that didn't stop my friends and I from nibbling dough whenever cookies were baking at my house.

When I became vegan I thought "Cool! Now I can have worry-free cookie dough" since I always assumed the concern with consuming cookie dough was the possible exposure to Salmonella poisoning from raw eggs. So if we don't use eggs, it shouldn't be an issue, right? Wrong. As it turns out, raw eggs aren't the only problem with eating uncooked cookie dough. Raw flour is also a potential health hazard.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, raw dough can contain bacteria that cause disease. Flour doesn't look like a raw food, but typically it is. This means it hasn't been treated to kill germs such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), which causes food poisoning (foodborne illness). Harmful germs can contaminate grain while it's still in the field or at other steps during flour production. Processing steps like grinding grain and bleaching flour do not kill germs like E. coli.

Bacteria are killed only when food made with flour is cooked. This is why you should never taste or eat raw dough or batter-whether made from recalled flour or any other flour. Learn more about food safety and raw cookie dough.

Words to the wise
Just say "No". . . doh! It's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, you'll have just that much more dough for cookie baking! How sweet is that?