Chocolate Chip Cookies: Best Eggless Recipe

Cookies I guess are everyone’s favorite. Not guess, I am sure. I haven’t met anyone who does not like cookies. Yeah one may have their own favorite cookie but cookies everyone loves. Probably that is why I have many cookies recipes on my Indian blog. Whole wheat cookies with almonds are typical Indian naankhatai style, also called as bakery biscuits. If you are looking for something fancy see heart shaped vanilla cookies dipped in chocolate. Also some savory or namkeen cookies are on the blog like curry leaves cookies and cheese cookies. If all this doesn’t please you then simple good old butter cookies will.

Among all the cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite and I am a bit embarrassed that the recipe is appearing on my blog after 3 years. What can I say? Well these cookies are so good that whenever I bake them it just finishes off in minutes- before I could even click pictures. Yeah so that’s the best excuse I can make. *wink*. Okay, honestly I don’t want to bore my husband and friends with these cookies, so I hardly bake them. You see, good things come after a lot wait, but the wait is always worth.

Last Sunday I had an itch to bake these chocolate bites (named by Mr. Husband). Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside and so buttery and chocolaty, according to me these are the best chocolate chip cookies-period! And these are eggless too; yeah some of my friends could not believe that cookies without eggs can be sooooo good. So with festive season approaching why not treat your friends and relatives with these homemade goodies, what’s better then a box full of chocolate cookies? This time ditch those mithai dabbas or sweet boxes and gift these cookies- just use a fancy box, tray, basket and wrap or ribbon it up.

Here are some pointers that will help you to make best cookies:

-Use good quality chocolate chips. Yes please. I recommend Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips.

-Make sure the vanilla essence is pure and original. I swear by Nielsen-Massey.

-Make use of unsalted butter, it brings out the best taste. If unsalted butter is not available then you just avoid adding salt.

-Brown sugar helps to give rich color. Where as granulated white sugar crystallizes and gives that sugary crunch. So both the sugars are important.

-I never freeze my chocolate chip cookies  dough, I bake them instantly. When you freeze the dough chocolate chips become hard whereas if you bake instantly some bits of chocolate chips melts while baking, this gives that chewy taste.

Now, Here is the recipe to make the best eggless chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup and 2 tablespoons -All purpose flour/maida
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4  cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C for 10 minutes.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment or baking paper.
3. Sieve all purpose flour, salt and baking soda. Keep aside.
4. In a bowl cream together butter and sugar.
5. Add vanilla essence and milk. Mix.
6. Add in sieved ingredients and form soft dough with your hands.
7. Add in chocolate chips and mix again.
8. Make one inch small ball and arrange on the lined baking tray. Flatten the cookies slightly. Make sure the cookies have some gap in between each other because cookies spread while baking.
9. Bake in the oven at 180C for 10 -12 minutes or till you see the edges of cookies turn golden.
10. Let it cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes.

Notes:

You can freeze the dough and use later.

Once cooled, the cookies stay fresh in a air tight container for one week.

Keep an eye on the cookies, it can burn fast. Just wait till you see the edges turning dark brown.

Orange Crinkle Cookies For Diwali Or Halloween (Eggless, Butterless And Vegan)

Cookies are the best thing to try if you are new to baking. I tired eggless naankhatai (cardamom) cookies for the first time and it was such a fulfilling experience-it was baked to the perfection I can say. Almost a year back I attempted to make oats cardamom cookies (for a health conscious friend) and it was a hit too. Next I tried vanilla cookies dipped in chocolate which was a little advanced type but I will still say the method was very easy and the overall look was very professional. I also made an effort to bake savory cookies with curry leaves and it grabbed lot of attention from my south Indian friends and co-bloggers.

Today I will talk about crinkle cookies also known as snowfall cookies or festive cookies. It is the appearance that make these cookies distinctive- the cracks and the coated sugar crafts the touch of snow flakes and crinkle which is very eye catching and dazzling. Even taste wise these cookies are poles apart from the regular ones- they are soft and chewy like a blend of brownie and cookie.

2 weeks back our friend invited us for lunch and I wanted to bake something special for my friend's family keeping in mind that they are not chocolate lovers. And also to mention I was out of butter, eggs and vanilla essence. So that's when and how I dared to experiment and bake Eggless Orange Crinkle Cookies. It was such a blissful time when the house of overflowing with the warm aroma of orange while it was raining outside *happy dance*. Anyways, everyone loved these cookies and her daughter ate the whole bowl of it.

Why not make a batch of these butterless eggless cookies this Diwali or Halloween –they are a sure shot crowd pleaser and indeed very easy.

Ingredients:

1 medium orange that gives 1/3 cup of juice.

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour/atta

½ cup gram flour/besan

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon corn flour

A pinch of salt

½ cup olive oil

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup icing sugar to dust

Method:

Grate the orange and take out 1 teaspoon orange zest. grate the orange peel to get the orange zest. make sure to grate the orange part and not the white pith as its bitter.

Peel and chop the orange. Remove the seeds and blend the orange to pulp. Strain the organ juice from the pulp and measure 1/3 cup form it.

In a large mixing bowl add the orange juice, sugar and olive oil. Combine till the sugar.

Also sieve the whole wheat flour, gram flour salt, corn starch, baking powder and baking soda directly in the bowl.

Add the orange zest and mix everything to form a soft dough. Cover the bowl and keep in the fridge for atleast 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 20 parts and shape into flattened balls.  Take a powdered sugar in a bowl and roll the flattened cookies in the sugar. Arrange them on a greased baking tray with enough space between them.

Bake in a preheated oven for 185C degrees 20 to 25 minutes.

You will know cookies are done when the colour changes. Cool them on a wire rack.

When cookies cool down, using a small sieve, sprinkle icing sugar on them.

Notes:

For mixing the sugar in the dough you can use any sugar-cane, brown, demerara sugar

For rolling the cookies in the sugar, you will need white sugar that is powdered.

The dust of icing sugar is optional, however it does give nice look.

Remember these cookies are not crunchy ones, they are chewy and soft.

If you want you can use readymade/packed orange juice as well.

It remains fine in a air tight container for 4-5 days.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with tea, coffee or milk.

These cookies are eggless and soft which makes them perfect for adults and vegetarians and vegans.

Pack these cookies in a festive tray,box or a plate and gift to your friend or relatives for Diwali.
Instead of buying ready made sweets, make these cookies for your guests.