I had butter, more oranges than I could possibly eat and some leftover chocolate, about 150g grams or so. My university house, soon to be abandoned for one month, meant that these ingredients were going to waste. Now technically the chocolate could have been eaten and the oranges I could have squeezed into my hand luggage, but I liked the idea of cookies a whole lot more.
And wow. These cookies. They are rich, gooey and studded with chocolate. They fool all the people that think vegan baking is rubbish. They have the power to make people stop their conversations when you eat them. They can make long nights of revision, seem not so bad.
Simple to make and with minimal washing up, these cookies are exactly what you need to end 2016, this miserable grey cloud of a year.
This recipe has been adapted from this Triple Chocolate Cookie Recipe to make it vegan. Feel free to omit the orange for simple Triple Chocolate Cookies, but the addition of the orange zest gives it a real festive zing. As it’s that time of year and chocolates are probably lying around in abundance, feel free to chuck in some leftover chocolate or whatever goodies you have. I imagine swapping the orange zest for dark mint chocolate would also make a lovely festive treat!
Ingredients for 10 large cookies:
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 225g caster sugar
- 150g dairy-free butter (such as flora freedom spread)
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas) (replacing 1 large egg)
- 205g self-raising flour
- 55g cocoa powder
- Splash of freshly squeezed orange juice
- 150-200g dairy free chocolate, chopped into chunks (I used dark and white dairy free chocolate)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200oc and grease and line two large baking trays
- Rub the orange zest and sugar together using your fingers
- Cream the orange sugar and the butter together until pale, then add the aquafaba
- Into the bowl, sift the self-raising flour, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt and fold into the mixture until no floury patches remain
- Add a splash of freshly squeezed orange juice to help the mixture come together
- Using your hands, add the chocolate to the dough and mix until the chocolate is evenly dispersed
- Roll the dough into large balls, flatten them and place them on a tray, spread apart. You should get 10 large cookies from this mixture, 5 cookies to a tray
- Bake for 15-18 minutes. They will look undercooked when they come out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool. Bake for 15 minutes for a slightly gooier cookie, 18 minutes for a slightly more crispy cookie.