Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

A perfect recipe for dairy free and egg free chocolate chip cookies! These cookies are made with coconut oil and applesauce to bring you a chewy and delicious chocolate chip cookie without shortening, without soy, and without compromises.

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I've been experimenting a lot in the kitchen lately with allergen free ingredients--and I tell ya, these Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my favorite creations yet!

These guys are everything you'd look for in a chocolate chip cookie: they're thick, chewy, gooey in the middle, and delightfully crisp around the edges. You'd never guess that they were dairy free and eggless!

Here's how we make them:

Making these cookies with coconut oil

For this recipe I used an organic, unrefined coconut oil.

I also used it in it's solid form--"unmelted".

I found that when I melted the oil first, it didn't incorporate into the dough very well and the cookies were super greasy. They also spread like crazy, which is not what I was looking for.

So for this dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe, I creamed the coconut oil in with the sugars, like you would with butter in a typical cookie recipe.

Creaming the solid coconut oil into the sugars mixed so much nicer and made a really nice cookie dough.

If you're making these cookies in the summer or if your kitchen is super hot, your coconut oil might have melted naturally. If this is the case, pop it in the fridge to solidify and then proceed with the recipe.

Another tip, if you don't like the taste of coconut, use refined coconut oil. The flavor is more mellow or even undetectable.

There are no eggs in this chocolate chip cookie recipe:

You heard me right!

To be clear, eggs are not dairy, but I find that dairy free and egg free usually go hand in hand in recipes.

I also really wanted to play around and experiment with different egg replacements.

I'm a thrill seeker what can I say?

For this recipe, I used applesauce as the egg replacement. This was a super fun discovery because I didn't know that you could use applesauce in place of eggs!

Turns out, the pectin that's found in apples makes a great binder for baked goods. Applesauce is also super inexpensive and has a zillion and one uses. So it makes a really easy ingredient swap.

And I have to say, it worked perfectly for these cookies!

The chocolate chip cookies came out wonderfully crisp around the edges, and chewy, thick, and gooey in the middle. The perfect cookie in my opinion!

Using Applesauce as an Egg Replacement

If you want to use applesauce as an egg replacement, I followed the ratio of ¼ cup of applesauce for every 1 egg. For instance, my typical chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for 2 eggs. Therefore, to make this dairy free and plant based version, I used ½ a cup of unsweetened, unflavored applesauce and it worked perfectly.

How to make dairy free and egg free chocolate chip cookies:

Makes 22 Cookies

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup of coconut oil (I use unrefined organic), not melted
• ¾ cup of packed brown sugar
• ½ cup of white sugar
• ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of kosher salt,
• 1 bag (9 or 10oz) of dairy free chocolate chips
• Kosher salt sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375º and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Give a quick mix with a fork or spoon. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the coconut oil and sugars on medium low speed until well combined.

Add in the applesauce and vanilla and continue mixing until fully incorporated.

Set the mixer to low and add in the flour mixture. Allow the mixer to stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until almost fully mixed. There should be some streaks of flour still remaining.

Turn off the mixer and add in the chocolate chips. Finish mixing the dough on low until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed and no more streaks of flour are showing.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are combined. The dough will be stiff. 

Allow the cookie dough to sit about 5-10 minutes to hydrate.

Scoop balls of dough about 2 tablespoons in size (a #30 scoop) onto your sheet pan. Make sure to space them 2" apart, they'll spread a little while baking.

Using two fingers, lightly press the center of each cookie to create a little depression. This will help the cookies bake evenly.

Bake at 375º for 11-14 minutes, until the edges are browned and the centers are still a little soft.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cookies with a little kosher salt.

Allow cookies to sit on the sheet pan for a few minutes to cool down. This will allow them to set slightly and move easily to a cooling rack or serving plate.

Once cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Are these dairy free chocolate chip cookies vegan?

Yes and no.

So there is nothing in this recipe that comes from animals, HOWEVER not all the ingredients I personally used had the certified Vegan label on them.

To make sure this recipe works for your vegan lifestyle, just make sure to check your labels and use certified vegan ingredients and you'll be all set!

Dairy Free Chocolate Chips:

We're fortunate to live in a time where dairy free or allergen free foods are super common and can be found at any local grocery store!

I like the fact that I have options for choosing dairy free chips. For this recipe, I used the Nestle brand Allergen Free Semi-Sweet Morsels. Not an ad, I just really liked them and found them right at Target!

Enjoy Life Foods is another very common dairy free chocolate chip brand--they also have mini chocolate chips and chocolate chunks!

If you can't find the above brands, I found a website Godairyfree.org that has a list devoted to dairy free chocolate options.

Like your chocolate chip cookies on the gooey side?

Me too!

I would recommend pulling these babies out of the oven around the 11-12 minute mark. Make sure the outer edges are just barely browned and that middle still looks a little undercooked. They'll continue to cook slightly as they sit on the sheet pan, so they won't be raw.

Allow the cookies to sit on the sheet pan until cooled. This way they'll be set enough to move to a serving platter

Other Dairy Free Recipes:

Dairy Free Banana Bread

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix (without powdered milk)

Naturally Sweetened and Dairy Free Vanilla Chia Pudding

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