Vegan Chocolate cookies?

[MonkeySage]

Has anyone experimented with these?

I was thinking of substituting banana for egg, coconut oil for butter, and using cocoa powder. But I'm not sure how much of any of those ingredients I should be using. I'm not sure what would taste best.

This is sort of part of my attempt to go full vegan eventually, as I'm already ovo lacto vegetarian.

[golentan]

My advice: Don't do it. I'm not saying don't go vegan (indeed, I admire it), but I would advise against cookies.

Chocolate baked goods don't translate well without a really rich source of fat and some protein (like butter, milk, egg, or others): the chocolate tends to... I'm not sure how to put it, it gets dry and kind of sour. Doubly so using raw cocoa, rather than something containing cocoa butter (a bittersweet or dark, milk free chocolate works better than cocoa powder in my experience). If you're determined, Coconut oil can work for it, but you have to adjust cooking times. Also, throw in some rolled oats/oatmeal to your recipe: it helps agglutinize the whole mixture and adds some texture and flavor. Consider also avocado over banana in some recipes (though banana oat chocolate chip cookies are the best)...

If you're looking for a good vegan chocolate dessert, the best I have to offer is "banana cream." Freeze some bananas, run them through the blender with chocolate of some description, freeze it again, scoop and serve. Works great, delicious, wonderful.

The trouble with cooking vegan, in my experience, is when you try to imitate what you can do with animal products. It's a whole different palate, you see. Done right, you're amazing and people rave about how amazingly healthy AND delicious your food is. If you try to think in terms of replacing egg in non-vegan recipes, or substitute Seitan for Meat in a dish, though, people (often including yourself) will have to fake a smile while choking down your offering.

[enderlord99]

Has anyone experimented with these?

I was thinking of substituting banana for egg, coconut oil for butter, and using cocoa powder. But I'm not sure how much of any of those ingredients I should be using. I'm not sure what would taste best.

This is sort of part of my attempt to go full vegan eventually, as I'm already ovo lacto vegetarian.

Creamy peanut butter would probably be a better thing to sub in than coconut oil, if only because bananas and chocolate are both being included.

No idea how much of anything, though.

[Killer Angel]

I'd suggest to watch some (of the IMO amazing) youtube video of Vegan Black Metal Chef. There's surely some recipe for cakes.
At worst, you'll have a good laugh... :smallwink:

[Lycunadari]

Vegan cookies are incredibly easy to make. :smallsmile: I use ~1/2 banana per egg, but with a lot of recipes you don't really need any egg at all, so you can just leave it out. I usually use margarine instead of butter (same amount), though oil could work as well (then I'd use a bit less). You can always change part of the flour for cocoa powder, but keep in mind that it is bitter and dryer than flour, so you might need to use more sugar and less cocoa powder than flour or more fat. (But that's for all baking, not just vegan.)

[SarahV]

I really recommend that you find a vegan recipe online that has good reviews, and use that, rather than trying to adapt your existing recipes. Substitutions in baking can be pretty tricky unless you are an experienced baker. If you find a recipe that 100 people already tried to make and the verdict is "yes, it's good" you're way ahead of the game.

I learned this the hard way: even as a fairly experienced baker I had some major (and expensive) flops doing simple substitutions to make gluten-free items for a family member with celiac. Other people have already done this work, don't make things harder than they need to be! (Unless, of course, the experimentation with recipes is the fun part for you, in which case... knock yourself out)

Here are a couple of recipes I found that have a lot of good reviews:

http://www.food.com/recipe/chewy-vegan-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies-99094

http://ohsheglows.com/2014/02/27/one-bowl-double-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

[Lady Moreta]

Have a look at this recipe (http://www.sarahbakesgfree.com/2014/07/gluten-free-vegan-soft-peanut-butter.html). I filched it off a friends blog and she raved about it. She also mentioned that she found some unprocessed chocolate 'nibs' at a health food store to use in place of actual chocolate and that you couldn't tell it wasn't 'real' chocolate.

Here's her blog (http://iwannabafoodievegan.tumblr.com/) she posts recipes as she tries them and isn't afraid to tweak recipes a little. Might help give you some more ideas.

[MonkeySage]

These all look so awesome... I can already tell I'm going to be going back on a baking streak very soon.

[trmadu]

Simply enough, Lenny & Lenny's Double Chocolate Vegan Cookies. It was quite a moment catching them on a whim at a southwestern Virginia 7-Eleven.