Back in my pre-vegan days, I used to love a good cookie swap party. Now that I’m vegan and don’t have many vegan friends close-by, I’m bringing the cookie swap party to Keepin’ It Kind! Each day, for 25 days, one of my favorite bloggers will visit and share one of their favorite holiday cookies! That’s 25 Days of Cookies, my friends! Happy Holidays!
Today, I am so excited to have none other than Ashlee of The Little Foxes here to kick it all off. I met Ashlee earlier this year at Vida Vegan Con. Although I’d been familiar with her blog beforehand, in person, I fell in love with Ashlee’s vivacious spirit, enthusiasm, and great sense of humor. The Little Foxes has been one of my favorite blogs ever since. Please welcome Ashlee as the first guest for 2013's Vegan Cookie Swap Party!
Happy Keepin’ It Kind Cookie Swap Day, lovely people of the internets! What a wonderful way to kick off the wintry hustle and bustle by celebrating what we all bring to the table. And what we’re bringing to the table today, and for the rest of the month, are cookies, sweet, sweet, wonderful, heaven-sent, vegan cookies. AMEN.
This Chai Chocolate Chip Cookie (or C4, as I like to call it, because it’s a taste explosion in your mouth. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Burn Notice…) recipe is my go-to for cooking demonstrations, because the prep is a cinch, the results are delish, and the dough is heaven (I give peeps who attend my cooking demos spoonfuls of the dough and the whole room begins to sound like giddy and push and shove for more, like school children hopped up on sugar).
This recipe marries the comforting flavor of traditional chocolate chip with an unexpected, but delightful hit of aromatic Indian spices. If you’re a traditional chocolate chip fanatic, you can omit the cinnamon and chai tea for a classic, melt-in-yo’-mouth chocolate chip cookie. If you’re more naughty than nice, I recommend listening to the little devil on your shoulder and adding the red pepper flakes and cardamom. And yes, you just rip open the tea bags and dump the contents in. Cook with tea leaves? Hell yes. All day.
A little ditty about the tray (in the event you use the pics that have the tray in them): My late Grandfather, a folk artist, painted this tray for my Grandmother. It’s simply one of my favorite things on the planet, because the little picture in the bottom right corner is painted from a snap of my mother and her brother when they were kids, all bundled up for the snow.
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil, liquified at room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
- ½ tbsp cinnamon
- 2 chai tea bags
- Optional: ¼ tsp of red pepper flakes and ¼ tsp of cardamom (for some extra heat and aromatic spice)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F degrees and prepare two baking sheets with parchment or a silpat liner.
- Cream together the coconut oil and brown sugar, then add the almond milk and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, chocolate chips, chai tea bag contents, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt (and cardamom and red pepper flakes, if you’re punching the recipe up with those, which I highly recommend).
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
- Roll into 1 inch sized balls and space evenly on an ungreased cookie sheet (they will spread), then flatten them out a bit with your palm.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, until golden and firm. If you like your cookies soft, 7 minutes should do the trick.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool before enjoying with a cold glass of almond milk.
Notes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 7 - 10 minutes
Allergy Information: Dairy-free, Egg-free, Soy-free, can be made Nut-free (different milk) and Gluten-free (different flour)
Ashlee Piper is a political strategist turned holistic health coach, vegan chef, and plant-based food and style blogger at The Little Foxes. Her recipes and writing have been featured in Reader’s Digest, VegNews, Vegetarian Times, Ecorazzi, Girlie Girl Army, Our Hen House, and EMMA Magazine. She was recently named a “Top Food Blogger to Watch” by Refinery29 and her vegan style segments have been featured on Fox News. She likes rescue dogs, Morrissey, red lipstick, thrift shopping, infomercials, doing yoga, and karaoke, in that order. She believes strongly in the terminating comma series and being heavy-handed with spices.
Social Media for The Little Foxes: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, + Pinterest
Emily - It Comes Naturally Blog
Aww wow - they look amazing! And Kirsty, 25 days of cookies - you're too kind!!!
The Vegan Cookie Fairy
I'm so excited the Cookie Swap has begun!! These look fab. I'm having a Christmas party on Sunday and I'm thinking these would be just perfect for it.
Kelli
These look great ~ and love the tray story Ashlee!
Angela @ Canned Time
Love the simplicity of these Ashlee and who doesn't love a hot chewy chocolate chip cookie explosion? Its a great recipe to take to non-vegan events and really show them that great food can be kind. Great job ♥
Richa
awesome start to the cookie party! yay for c4 cookies!
Annie
I've been lamenting the loss of Ashlee's Tuesday cookie posts - - but I think these make up for it. Favorite flavors of all time!
Anna {Herbivore Triathlete}
These look wonderful, I love the chai addition, definitely warm and comforting. I love this cookie swap Kristy.
Natalia
I made these last week and they are delicious. Everyone loved them. I liked the idea of using chai tea as a spice, i used it in my oatmeal recently!! I think next time i make thencookies i will put athird bag.
Kian
I made these tonight, and my dough didnt come out the way it did int he pictures above! it was very brown and very soft- to the point where it was more oily than dough like. Any idea of what could have gone wrong? I measured the coconut oil to 1/2 cup coconut oil which was already melted. I used whole wheat pastry flour. Could that have been it? I really want to make this for the holidays. Tips are greatly appreciated.
Ashlee
Hi Kian,
Thanks for making the recipe. Like all recipes, I can't account for results when key ingredients are changed. The recipe needs All Purpose Flour. Pastry flour and whole wheat pastry flour are generally finer grain and can make a dough too liquidy. I'd urge you to try the recipe again with APF and see if your results are more positive. Thanks!
Heather
Oh my goodness these look so amazing!
Janelle @ MommyLivesClean
Hi Ashlee, these cookies are fantastic! My family is gluten-free due to allergies and I would like to post a modified version of your recipe on my blog, linking back to here several times. Is that ok with you? Please let me know! Thanks 🙂
Ashlee
Hi Janelle,
I'm honored that you'd like to repost the recipe. You can certainly modify and post, I'd just appreciate link backs to http://www.thelilfoxes.com! Many thanks!
Kim
Can you taste coconut in these at all?
Jacky
Hi Kristy and Ashlee - these look great, but I'm more of an Earl Grey fan than chai, so I was wondering if I just replaced the chai tea with Earl Grey, would they turn out all right? I'd like to veganize this recipe (http://www.designlovefest.com/2015/03/earl-grey-chocolate-chip-cookies/) if possible, so I might also replace the cinnamon and red pepper flakes with nutmeg.