When I was a kid, I used to take chocolate chip cookies and eat them cereal style with a spoon- mashed up in a bowl topped off with cold milk. My Mama gave me free rein of the kitchen, she never dictated my meals or set foods off limits…just raised her eyebrows when something caught her eye as particularly disturbing. Some of my concoctions worked out well and I still cook variations of them today. There were also those that gave me bellyache. Never able to just throw something out, I was proud and taught never to waste food. So I would eat everything I made, no matter how awful. One of my first experiments in baking was chocolate chip cookies. Coming across a recipe in a magazine at the doctor’s office, I remember tearing it out and stuffing it in my pocket. The glossy photo of fresh baked cookies oozing chocolate had me spellbound. What one would buy off the shelves at the grocery were comparatively pitiful. I began my numerous attempts. I wanted the picture in the magazine to come to life, and in my small hands with time and patience my centerfold of a cookie was created. This was one of a string of projects that introduced me to the abracadabra of cooking as well as the realization of my own abilities. Here, I delved into the process of experimentation once again to make a vegan chocolate chip cookie worthy of kids, cereal bowls, and glossy pages alike.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes about a dozen)

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup margarine (room temperature)
3 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chip

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together sugars, margarine and vanilla until creamy.
3. In another larger bowl- combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the creamy mix and the chocolate chips to the larger bowl and mix together well.
4. Use a spoon to scoop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the edges begin to golden. Allow them to cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.