This is my favorite cookie recipe in the history of all cookie recipes. This is also my dad's favorite cookie recipe in the history of all cookie recipes. It usually calls for 2 eggs, but I once recipe-tested it with applesauce as the egg-substitute, and it worked so well that my dad had no idea I'd done anything differently. I've made it with Mark a few times, and there is no question that this cookie recipe goes in the hall of fame of Best Thing Ever.
If there is one cookie recipe that proves the true story of carry-over cooking, it is this one. Carry-over cooking is not a myth. It is the story of taking food off the heat when it's almost-but-not-quite done cooking, because if you let it sit for about 10 minutes, the heat still in the food item will make it finish cooking and become cooked to absolute perfection. It takes trust, it takes patience, and it is worth every second of those 10 minutes. If you trust the process, then you too will believe in the power of carry-over cooking! ;-)
Notes on allergies: If you have an apple allergy, substitute two eggs for the applesauce. Otherwise, go out there and get the Mott's lunchbox size applesauce containers, unsweetened variety, and find out just how delicious egg-free cooking can be when you do it right! This recipe is free of soy, nuts, and sesame. It contains gluten and dairy. That said, since the recipe gives weight in addition to cup measurements, I have a feeling that with a little tinkering, you could make a successful gluten-free version. If you want to make a dairy free version, I would suggest trying coconut butter as my first choice of dairy-free butter most likely to bake up well.
Originally Published on The Smitten Kitchen Blog, Credited as being Leite's Recipe, Thoroughly Adapted by Alison
That Egg-Free Life Smitten Chocolate Chip Cookies --
Ingredients:
Flour MATH: 2 cups MINUS 2 tablespoons (this would be 8 1/2 ounces if using cake flour) PLUS 1 2/3 cups (this would be 8 1/2 ounces if using bread flour)
Note: This works just fine with all-purpose flour, but feel free to use cake flour and bread flour if you are fancy like that :)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 Mott’s lunchbox size containers unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds combination of chocolate discs, mini chocolate chips, pieces of chocolate bar, chocolate chunks, as many sizes of chocolate as possible, including the dust from breaking up the pieces of chocolate
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line many cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes if you’re using an electric mixer, or for as long as your kid-powered wooden spoon team can cream!
4. Add applesauce to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Stir in the vanilla.
6. Add dry ingredients gradually to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. If you are using all-purpose flour and not measuring it by weight, you may have a bit of extra flour that you don’t need to add, and that’s really ok. Be smart and don’t add all of it if the dough becomes perfect cookie dough while there’s still a handful left, since you don’t want the cookies to turn out dry from slightly too much flour.
7. Fold in chocolate pieces.
8. Scoop balls of dough for cookies cookies of approximately 3 1/2-ounce weight each, the size of generous golf balls. Make into a perfect ball in your hands, put on cookie sheet, and then smoosh down gently into cookie-shape. Because there are no eggs, you must make it smooshed down or it won’t bake correctly, so make sure you don’t skip this step. Smoosh to approximately the height and diameter that you want the finished cookies to be, and they will then both spread and puff up a bit in the oven.
Make sure to leave a LOT of space between each cookie so you don’t accidentally create one giant cookie.
Or, you can disregard this step and simply make one giant cookie on purpose. But if you want to make one giant cookie, leave space on the cookie sheet for the dough to spread sideways on all sides.
On a side note, you can divide dough into six pieces and add food dye for all the colors of the rainbow, and the dough will not get all too tough from kneading in the food dye, so this is an ideal recipe to use for rainbow cookies! To make the dough rainbow, first omit chocolate chips, then knead in food dye, form into cookies, and lastly, add the chocolate to make designs such as peace signs.
9. Bake until golden brown but still quite soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes to cook through the rest of the way because carry-over cooking is not a myth!
Remember that if you make one cookie that takes up the whole cookie sheet, it will take longer to cook through to the center than if you made golf ball size cookies, so think critically and check often for perfect done-ness. The centers should be very soft, the edges should be harder, and the color should be that perfect shade of golden brown – then the cookies will call to you that they are done!
10. Enjoy while warm.
If there is one cookie recipe that proves the true story of carry-over cooking, it is this one. Carry-over cooking is not a myth. It is the story of taking food off the heat when it's almost-but-not-quite done cooking, because if you let it sit for about 10 minutes, the heat still in the food item will make it finish cooking and become cooked to absolute perfection. It takes trust, it takes patience, and it is worth every second of those 10 minutes. If you trust the process, then you too will believe in the power of carry-over cooking! ;-)
Notes on allergies: If you have an apple allergy, substitute two eggs for the applesauce. Otherwise, go out there and get the Mott's lunchbox size applesauce containers, unsweetened variety, and find out just how delicious egg-free cooking can be when you do it right! This recipe is free of soy, nuts, and sesame. It contains gluten and dairy. That said, since the recipe gives weight in addition to cup measurements, I have a feeling that with a little tinkering, you could make a successful gluten-free version. If you want to make a dairy free version, I would suggest trying coconut butter as my first choice of dairy-free butter most likely to bake up well.
Originally Published on The Smitten Kitchen Blog, Credited as being Leite's Recipe, Thoroughly Adapted by Alison
That Egg-Free Life Smitten Chocolate Chip Cookies --
Ingredients:
Flour MATH: 2 cups MINUS 2 tablespoons (this would be 8 1/2 ounces if using cake flour) PLUS 1 2/3 cups (this would be 8 1/2 ounces if using bread flour)
Note: This works just fine with all-purpose flour, but feel free to use cake flour and bread flour if you are fancy like that :)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 Mott’s lunchbox size containers unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds combination of chocolate discs, mini chocolate chips, pieces of chocolate bar, chocolate chunks, as many sizes of chocolate as possible, including the dust from breaking up the pieces of chocolate
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line many cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes if you’re using an electric mixer, or for as long as your kid-powered wooden spoon team can cream!
4. Add applesauce to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Stir in the vanilla.
6. Add dry ingredients gradually to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. If you are using all-purpose flour and not measuring it by weight, you may have a bit of extra flour that you don’t need to add, and that’s really ok. Be smart and don’t add all of it if the dough becomes perfect cookie dough while there’s still a handful left, since you don’t want the cookies to turn out dry from slightly too much flour.
7. Fold in chocolate pieces.
8. Scoop balls of dough for cookies cookies of approximately 3 1/2-ounce weight each, the size of generous golf balls. Make into a perfect ball in your hands, put on cookie sheet, and then smoosh down gently into cookie-shape. Because there are no eggs, you must make it smooshed down or it won’t bake correctly, so make sure you don’t skip this step. Smoosh to approximately the height and diameter that you want the finished cookies to be, and they will then both spread and puff up a bit in the oven.
Make sure to leave a LOT of space between each cookie so you don’t accidentally create one giant cookie.
Or, you can disregard this step and simply make one giant cookie on purpose. But if you want to make one giant cookie, leave space on the cookie sheet for the dough to spread sideways on all sides.
On a side note, you can divide dough into six pieces and add food dye for all the colors of the rainbow, and the dough will not get all too tough from kneading in the food dye, so this is an ideal recipe to use for rainbow cookies! To make the dough rainbow, first omit chocolate chips, then knead in food dye, form into cookies, and lastly, add the chocolate to make designs such as peace signs.
9. Bake until golden brown but still quite soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes to cook through the rest of the way because carry-over cooking is not a myth!
Remember that if you make one cookie that takes up the whole cookie sheet, it will take longer to cook through to the center than if you made golf ball size cookies, so think critically and check often for perfect done-ness. The centers should be very soft, the edges should be harder, and the color should be that perfect shade of golden brown – then the cookies will call to you that they are done!
10. Enjoy while warm.