Weeknight Cooking

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies With Maple & Olive Oil

January  6, 2019
4
23 Ratings
Photo by Ty Mecham
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 13 minutes
  • Makes 24ish cookies, give or take a few (depending how much batter you eat!)
Author Notes

These cookies were born out of a dessert craving at 7 a.m., on a weekday. Chocolate cookies for breakfast, I reasoned, should make a few ingredient concessions to appear moderately virtuous. I started with Ovenly's Genius recipe for vegan salted chocolate chip cookies, and tweaked it, trading neutral oil for olive oil (one of my favorite baking tricks), and swapping out white and brown sugar for maple syrup and coconut sugar to mirror my typical breakfast choices. I added a tiny bit of molasses to replace the brown sugar–flavor I missed from traditional chocolate chip cookies, and switched out the chips for chunks, for bigger pools of melted chocolate (though you could use either, of course). The Ovenly recipe has you refrigerate the dough for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours before baking, and you could absolutely do that here for even better flavor (flour hydration, and all that)—but you can also bake these right away, because cookies for breakfast wait for no one. —Ella Quittner

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Ingredients
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (272 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup (102 grams) extra-virgin olive oil with a nice, mild flavor (avoid ones with a strong peppery flavor)
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (180 grams) maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup (24 grams) coconut sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups (252 grams) dark chocolate chunks (note: use a vegan brand if you want to keep these fully vegan)
  • 1 tablespoon flaky salt
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 375F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and kosher salt to combine and get rid of any flour lumps.
  3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together olive oil, maple syrup, molasses, vanilla, and coconut sugar until fully combined and smooth—the mixture will look like slightly loose caramel. Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chunks, and use a wooden spoon or spatula to gently combine from the bottom and sides until there are no visible streaks of flour, but then stop. Over-mixing will make your cookies less tender. (Note: If you'd like to hydrate your flour as the original Ovenly recipe recommends, stick it in the fridge, covered, at this point for 12 to 24 hours. Or you can bake these right away.)
  4. Grab a tablespoon or a scoop and divide the dough into heaping tablespoons, spaced out about 2-inches apart onto the baking sheets, with flat bottoms and domed tops; you should get between 24 and 26 portions. Sprinkle a little pinch of flaky salt over the top of each cookie.
  5. Bake for about 13 minutes, until they’ve spread slightly (but they won't spread much) and there are slight striations starting to form around the edges—they won’t look fully done, don’t worry! Take them out of the oven and let cool a few minutes before attempting to move; they’ll firm up as they rest.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

19 Reviews

Carey December 2, 2020
Hello happy bakers! This recipe looked good and I used reviewers' valued feedback to tweak. A habit I have with recipes because of limited access to some ingredients where I am and I want to reduce/eliminate added sugar (white, brown, coconut, honey, maple, agave syrup, etc.) and saturated fats from my diet in general. Yes I know, a challenge. I mean this is a COOKIE recipe. But I think I have succeeded. Starting with this vegan recipe really helps. I replaced the maple syrup, molasses, coconut sugar with 3/4 cup of prune syrup (made from about 15 prunes soaked in 3/4 cup hot water, juice of 1/2 lime until soft then pureed. Will have excess.). Cookies did not taste pruny. That fixed the overly sweet issue. I reduced the EVOO to 1/4cup + 2 tbsp. As the dough looked a bit dry, I added 1/4 cup unsalted roasted tahini. Cookies did not taste like sesame, but was richer. Reduced salt to 1 tsp, may even drop to 3/4 tsp next time. Used semi sweet chocolate chips. Added a walnut half on top instead of more salt before baking. Baked 16 minutes. Soft, toothsome cookies. Thank you for the recipe and everyone's informative reviews.
J March 29, 2020
Could these be made gluten free?
J March 1, 2020
These looked very enticing but are they supposed to be raw inside? I follow all the instructions and let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooing rack. I tested one after a few minutes and it was raw, then I decided to let them rest another 20 minutes to cool, and tested another and still raw inside. Is that the idea or should they be cooked all the way?
Volta February 16, 2020
Perfect and so easy biscuits. I used Marple and honey. They are delicious. Congrats. I recomend anyone vegan or healtyist to make them.
Hannah G. September 8, 2019
These were delicious. My husband needs to avoid refined sugars and trans fats. These turned out tasting decadent but healthy-ish. Can they be frozen?
SuburbanTeacher July 5, 2019
Made these and loved them. Still not sure if they can be frozen OR how to store for a couple of day. Could these be baked Thursday - served Saturday? If yes, then what is the best way to store?
Laurnie June 4, 2019
I was very disappointed with these! The dough was so crumbly, I could barely get the cookies to hold together (and this was after resting in the fridge overnight). The texture also felt a bit too grainy. I read the recipe over and over, wondering if I had missed an ingredient, but I hadn't. Still not sure what went wrong, but sadly, wouldn't risk making them again.
Roger D. June 4, 2019
What it’s missing is the butter which provides texture and eggs which act as a binder.
Ella Q. June 4, 2019
Hi Laurnie,

I'm so sorry to hear that the recipe didn't work out for you! It sounds very frustrating. My only guess from reading this—since it's such an oily batter, not dry—is that it sounds like something went awry with flour or moisture proportions. I'm sorry again you had trouble with it!

Ella
Rescue723 June 4, 2019
I just baked these for a work colleague who is strictly vegan. I was initially doubtful as to the taste and texture, but they are divine! However, as with most baked goods, the cookies are as superior as their ingredients. I used high quality chocolate chips and olive oil and mild maple syrup. I didn’t find them too sweet at all, and I liked the texture.
Ella Q. June 4, 2019
So happy to hear you liked these! :)
Nanda G. May 31, 2019
These didn't do it for us. Too sweet, too much chocolate...I used whole wheat pastry flour to try to add some flavor but the sweetness overpowered it. I'd want 2/3 the chocolate and 2/3 the sugars, and definitely some more flavorful flour in there.
Roger D. May 30, 2019
Far too sweet with nothing to round out the flavor except a good bit of salt.
You're better off just using the traditional Toll House recipe. These need the butter and eggs to improve flavor and texture. The Toll House recipe contains less salt and sugar.

catalinalacruz May 11, 2019
Too Sweet for me, too. Not supposed to be candy.
Lee May 8, 2019
This is flavorful but way too sweet for me. What is the best way to cut down on sweetness and retain the texture?
Taruni K. April 21, 2019
Could you replace the maple syrup with anything? I don’t love the flavor of it.
Ella Q. May 1, 2019
Hi Taruni! You could try it with honey (1:1). Curious to hear how it works!
Dot L. March 19, 2019
Making these today for at least the third or fourth time since the recipe was posted. They have become a new family favorite.
Ella Q. March 19, 2019
Hi Dot,

SO happy to hear they're a new favorite!

Ella