Giorgio stewmari

I made vegan, gluten-free coconut chocolate chip cookies (ack, not quite vegan, I forgot there is milk fat in those Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips, damn).  Anyway, I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies; I’ve been eating Petit Écolier with my roommate, and once you’ve had one of those you can never get enough chocolate in a cookie.  I am out of butter and used coconut oil in its place; I figured I might as well run with the vegan thing and mixed 1 tablespoon flax seed meal with 3 tablespoons water, let sit for a few minutes, and added it to replace the egg.  And I thought I’d bring out the coconut flavor, so added shredded coconut.  Plus vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves - no reason.  I don’t typically like crunchy (as opposed to cakey) cookies but I realized at Providence Provision in February that with a big group like that, variety in textures, as well as flavors, is a necessity.  Without the spring of gluten, Arrowhead Mills brown rice flour, which has a cornmealy grit to it (as opposed to Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour, which is smooth like wheat flour), yields an almost Tate’s-like crunch.†  I made a classic half batch of walnut cranberry chocolate chip last Friday and they seemed too doughy, I didn’t like them.  As of this writing, one hour out of the oven, I’ve eaten 6 of the crunchy cookies.  Maybe, my taste has changed.

† I had to buy Trader Joe’s “Highbrow Chocolate Chip Cookies” because I just knew those boxes were repackaged Tate’s, and indeed they were.  If taste and look weren’t enough, water in the ingredient lists proves it.  Maybe the water with the flax seed meal adds crunch too, hm.