Today I am sharing my recipe for Vegan Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies, aka, what I lovingly call "Mall Cookies."
Mall Cookies. I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so going to the mall was a pretty exciting outing. I would pop by with a group of girlfriends and we'd browse Wet Seal or Express. And at some point we would stroll by the food court. Ah, the mall food court. Sorry mall food court, but you certainly didn't have many healthy options back then. Giant cinnamon buns, pizza, hot dogs, stir fry, pasta or a frosty orange-flavored "smoothie." But really, the best treat to get at the mall, in my opinion, was a tiny bag of mini chocolate chip cookies from the cookie spot. Those warm and tender cookies had a dreamy aroma that seemed to marinate my pores and leave me drunk on chocolate and butter and flour. One bite and everything felt cozy. you could of course always buy the giant sized cookies, but I always went for the minis.
So cut to today. I decided to go all in with buttery goodness for these vegan version cookies. They are SO GOOD. Neighbors will smell them baking and find themselves at your doorstep. Friends will hear you are making them and pop by just to say 'hi.' And these are so fun to bring to parties or as a house-warming treat for someone. Or even better, offer to bake the cookies in someone's house - so they can really steep themselves in this cookie perfume.
Needless to say, I think you should try these cookies the next time you want something decadent, dreamy and dare I say it, mall-inspired. Enjoy!..
Dough balls, rolled by hand into mini sizes..
Freshly baked cookies, ready for snatching!..
Warm, buttery and chewy and oh so dreamy..
Melty chocolate chips are everything..
Mall cookies. In a little baggie or served on a plate with a cool glass of plant milk..
These super buttery, amazing vegan cookies taste just like those classic "mall cookies" that always intoxicated you with their dreamy aroma in the mall food court.
Why Aquafaba? I have not really jumped on the aquafaba, aka chickpea brine bandwagon, but I decided to add a splash to this dough to hopefully fluff up the cookies a bit. I think it worked! They definitely have a nice fluffiness to them, more so than any other cookie I have made.
Trick: Rolling the balls. If your hands feel like they are getting sticky while rolling the dough balls, coat them in a thin layer of coconut oil before starting to roll. This also gives the cookies a slightly extra buttery glaze on top! And your hands will feel super soft once you wash them.
Watch me make them..
.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
Ingredients..
Dough, ready for chilling..
Are these healthy? Can I tweak the recipe? As is, these cookies are pretty decadent. No whole grains, lots of vegan butter and chocolate. A good amount of sugar, refined sugar, oh my! But these are treat cookies and they really impress. If you need to modify, you can certainly change up the flour to something less refined or omit some of the vegan butter and add in a replacement like applesauce or a mashed banana. But I have not tested any of those options yet. These are mall cookies for my purposes. The best darn not-actually-in-a-mall cookies ever.
All the cookies, please..
gan,baking,chocolate chip cookies, mini cookies,dessert,chocolate
Cooling just a bit..
Vegan Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Wet:
- 2 sticks of vegan butter (Earth Balance)
- ¾ cup brown sugar, organic
- ⅓ cup raw sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 7oz. silken tofu
- 1 ½ tablespoon aqua faba (chickpea brine)
Dry:
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ¼ cups organic white flour
- ⅛ teaspoon pink salt
Fold ins:
- ⅓ cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup walnuts
- 1 bag vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add all the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat until fluffy - I try to beat for a few minutes, not just until things are combined.
- Add in the salt, baking soda and a third of the flour. Blend again with your mixer until smooth. Add more flour. Beat. And then add all the flour and whip until smooth and fluffy.
- Fold in the walnuts, oats and chocolate chips.
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough in the fridge. Chill for at least two hours - overnight is best!
- Day of baking: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Take a little over a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball, place on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Note: If you only want to bake half the dough the first day, you can chill the remaining dough in the fridge, covered, for up to five days.
- Bake at 350 for ten minutes. Cool on a baking rack and serve!
Brittany says
hi I'm Australian and we don't sell vegan butter in sticks..was wondering roughly what sort of amount you mean in oz or grams? or cups? thanks so much
Kathy Patalsky says
1/2 cup = 1 stick of butter. Hope that helps! 🙂
Georgia says
OMG these look so good!
Heather McClees says
From a fellow 80's and 90's kid, I love this post... so fun! 🙂 I agree, I never went for pizza or Chinese food. I was always up for a cookie or ice cream, though! 😉
Kathy Patalsky says
Haha yes! However I was kinda addicted to sbarro's baked ziti pasta go a while. 😹
Liz S. says
These totally bring back mall cookie memories of the Mrs. Fields brand 😀
Maria A says
Kathy, these look scrumptious! I recently discovered something that is just as good, if not better than Earth Balance, called "Organic Butter 2.0" by a brand called Melt and I can definitely see a good use for that now. 🙂 I love how you used silken tofu in this recipe, it's something you rarely see used for cookies and I can imagine would make for a very interesting result.
Kathy Patalsky says
Hi Maria, yes the tofu works so well as an egg replacer. It is my fave egg replacer for baking because it is basically flavorless. I will have to try and find that vegan butter. I know Miyoko's kitchen had one too that I am eager to try.
Kathleen Lisson says
These look delicious!
Kathy Patalsky says
Thank you Kathleen!
Christine says
Now that is the kind of chip-to-cookie ratio I can support. And I remember that mall scene! Au Bon Pain chocolate croissants! Benetton! Express! Yikes... I'm old.
Kathy Patalsky says
Haha I usually don't put ALL the chips in the dough but for these babies I had to go all in. Au bon pain was my sister's addiction 😂 I want someone to name all the old mall stores!! Claire's Accessories? Ummmm the body shop and bath and body works in their prime. Esprit! Tower Records or the video/music stores. I could go on...