Rocky Road Cookies (vegan)

Have I mentioned before how I adore Isa Chandra's cookbook 'Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar'? It's one of those books full of delicious and mouth-watering recipes from the first to the very last page, you can't just pick a few...and here's a warning: you'll suddenly feel the urge to bake dozens and dozens of cookies after checking out this book. 

If I'm not wrong this is the 4th recipe I try out from this book (I made Chocolate Agave cookies, Spiced Carrot Cookies and Banana & Walnuts Cookies) and it's one of my favorites so far. 

These cookies are really, really tasty, they have an intense chocolate flavor and I love the crispy outside with those big chunks of chocolate and roasted almonds (they also have white chocolate chips but I'm not very fond of white chocolate, the darker the better) and the soft center is simply great! Plus these Rocky Roads are healthy, you won't even need margarine, they have ground flax seeds (did you know they have powerful benefits for your health?) and those are some good bonus points. =)

¡Receta en español aquí!

 

Vegan Rocky Road Cookies

(Recipe adapted from 'Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero).

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Ingredients
1/2 cup soy milk (or any nondairy milk).
2 tbsp ground flax seeds.
1/2 cup sunflower oil (or canola oil).
1 1/4 cups sugar.
2 tsp vanilla extract.
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour.
1/2 cup cocoa powder.
1/2 tsp baking soda.
1/4 tsp baking powder.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks.
1/2 cup vegan white chocolate chunks.
1/2 cup roasted almonds, chopped.*

*Save some whole almonds to decorate.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine nondairy milk, flax seeds, oil, sugar and vanilla extract.

Mix until well blended and smooth. Sift in all-purpose flour, cocoa powder and salt. Stir with a rubber spatula to form a thick, wet dough but do not over-mix. That's very important when it comes to vegan bakery.

Fold in chocolate chunks, white chocolate chunks and almonds. The dough will most probably seem too sticky, don't panic, just chill for 30 minutes to firm up.

For each cookie, drop about 1 tablespoon of dough onto a baking sheet 2 inches (5cm) apart, as cookies will spread A LOT. They do spread a lot, believe me...you don't want your cookies to get stuck together and become some kind of big weird cookie cake. Spray the spoon or dough scoop with nonstick spray if the dough is sticking.

To make your cookies look prettier decorate the dough balls with almonds cut in halves and some extra chocolate chunks/chips.

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until spread and cracked on top.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in a loosely covered container.