If you’re looking for a sweet treat these Chocolate Brownie Cookies might just be the ticket.
Some days you wake up realizing you’re stuck in a rut. You don’t really know what got you there, except for the perpetual motion in the same direction. (That’s sort of the definition of a rut.)
But then some days something will come along to shake your tires plum out of their tracks. Hopefully that something isn’t a panicked phone call from a loved one or an unexpected (and expensive) bill in the mail. Or a realization that your daughter is more excited about leaving for college in a few years than sitting in her mother’s lap and reading Where the Wild Things Are for the thousandth time. (Some days I miss those sacred times more than words can express.)
No, our something was not that dramatic. It greeted us on a recent early morning after stepping outside for our daily walk with the dogs. Our unexpected something was waking up to a 50-degree, chilly kind of morning after months of sweating through hot days and stuffy nights. It’s not that we don’t have air conditioning, it’s just that we live in an older house and air control just isn’t as controlling as it could be in all parts of the house. Maybe that helped us feel the jolt of the morning chill in the air a little more than some would.
It’s September and we have an autumn breeze in the air. The days are growing shorter. Nights longer. And although I’m sure we’ll have more hot days ahead, the cooler weather will eventually overtake the heat.
Summers are hectic in our household so I welcome this imposed change of pace. I will miss the ease of sandals; nightly tennis with my hubby; patio lunches with my daughter; family dinners in my sister’s country yard. But I will welcome quiet evenings at home, yoga pants (oh how I’ve missed you), and more time in the kitchen.
I’m happy for this chilly morning that woke us from our summer rut; reminding us to enjoy the warmth of the sun while we still can…and to remember where we stored the winter box of gloves and scarves. We’re gonna want those soon.
Chocolate Brownie Cookies
(Adapted from a recipe by Heat Oven to 350)
Ingredients:
- ½ cup dairy free margarine
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar, (packed)
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds, (or ground flax seeds)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour*
- ½ cup corn starch
- ¾ cup cocoa
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups dairy free chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- ½ cup powdered sugar
* You can make these cookies gluten-free by replacing the flour with 1 cup of brown rice flour and 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour.
Directions:
Begin by heating your oven to 350F.
Cream together margarine, peanut butter, and sugars. Either use your mixer or some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease to beat until light and fluffy. Next combine the chia seeds, water, and vanilla in a small bowl. Let this mixture sit for just a minute to allow the chia seeds to form a gel. Then combine with the margarine mixture and stir well.
At this point, I just move that margarine mixture to one side of my mixing bowl and use the clear space to mix my dry ingredients. However, you can use a separate bowl for this step if you’d like. Combine flour, corn starch, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually stir dry ingredients into the margarine mixture and stir until well combined. If your dough is a little on the stiff side, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of soy milk.
Next stir in your chocolate chips and nuts (optional).
Form the cookie dough into 1″ balls, roll them in powdered sugar and place them 1 – 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for a minute or so on the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
You should get 4 to 5 dozen cookies out of this recipe, depending on how much is consumed in the preparation process. That’s the trouble with vegan cookie dough, there’s no worry about raw eggs which makes the cookie dough completely safe to consume. My advice if you eat too much of the cookie dough? Either make smaller cookies or tell your family the recipe only yields about 3 dozen cookies. Then be prepared for the post-cookie production workout!
Yumm! A delicious treat to welcome a new month!
September 6, 2011
11:29 am
Yes – happy September!
September 6, 2011
3:44 pm
I absolutely cannot wait to try these cookies. (and isn’t this weather magnificent?)
September 6, 2011
3:19 pm
Magnificent indeed. Wish I could bottle that up for some day in December!
September 6, 2011
3:44 pm
These sound and look amazing. Do you flatten the cookies before baking? Or do they flatten themselves. I never know when recipes say to make them into balls. These will definitely be the next treat I make for my husband.
September 6, 2011
4:12 pm
Hi Kelly! I didn’t flatten them before baking, but you could if you wanted to. Either way, the cookies tasted delicious and looked oh so good. Sometimes I’ll even refrigerate some of the dough balls so we can get that “fresh out of the oven” taste throughout the week. Happy cookie baking to you!
September 6, 2011
11:11 pm
These look amazingly yummy. For this year, I have vowed that there will be no store bought, packaged cookies in our house. This recipe will be one that I will try in order to fill my cookie jar. Your comment about your daughter and those sacred times you miss brought tears to my eyes. My only daughter is still wonderfully only 4. But all of her 3 older brothers are now off to school and she will soon be in preschool a few hours a day, 4 days a week. While it is my greatest pleasure to watch my kids grow and experience each new adventure, I know that there will soon be a time when the sentiments you expressed will be mine.
September 8, 2011
12:08 am
wow those look so amazing!! yum yum!
September 8, 2011
12:15 am
I can relate. And I loved your reflections on the changing seasons/times. Thank you for taking the time to share another delicious recipe…and your sweet words. I hope you had a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend. We need them! Have a blessed week, my friend.
September 11, 2011
9:57 am