Update: these are still fabulous, but there’s a new cookie in town. Check it here.

My laptop is down, so I’m posting from my phone because you need this cookie recipe. It’s a cookie recipe my from my sister Holly (she makes the best cookies!) I’ve been veganizing it for several years now, but yesterday I had a breakthrough discovery.

If you’ve been hiding under a rock you may not know that “magic chickpea brine” has taken the vegan world by storm. People are making meringues, pavlovas, macarons, marshmallow fluff, vegan lucky charms marshmallows, sponge cake and even angel food cake with the stuff. I was curious about what else the liquid from a can of chickpeas might do and wondered if it might make a successful egg replacer. I hope you’ll you’ll be pleased to know it successfully replaces egg in a traditional cookie recipe. In fact, it’s the best egg replacer I’ve ever used! it binds, it leavens and it provides that chewiness that I’ve missed in vegan cookies.

Previously I always used ground flax or cornstarch. A neighbor of mine is allergic to flax and cornstarch seems to make a drier more crumbly cookie. I’ve probably tried every egg replacer you can think of and this idea has performed the very best of all. You simply use 3 tablespoons of chickpea brine per egg you need to replace. I’m going to venture out on a limb and say this will easily work for cakes or any other baked good that doesn’t use more than a couple of eggs. These are literally perfect!

Recipe for The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted and veganized from my sister’s recipe)

• 1/2 cup vegan butter at room temperature (earth balance buttery sticks or homemade: Bryanna Clark Grogan, Miyoko Schinner and veganbaking.com have good recipes for homemade vegan butter)
• 1/2 cup packed organic brown sugar
• 1/4 cup organic granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons chickpea brine (from a can of chickpeas, or the liquid from any other can of white beans)
• 1 1/4 cups organic all purpose unbleached flour (or whole wheat pastry flour, for GF use all purpose flour GF flour add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum if xanthan gum isn’t an ingredient in the flour )
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I like 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, (or in your stand mixer) Cream the butter and the sugars with an electric beater. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and chickpea brine. Beat to combine.

Add the flour and beat until well mixed. If the cookie dough seems too wet, add an additional tablespoon or two of flour and mix till combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet, I use this medium sized cookie scoop. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool for several minutes more. Store in an airtight container for up to five days. Makes about 24 cookies.

Notes and troubleshooting: you can also use the liquid from home cooked chickpeas or any other white bean. The key is having a viscous liquid. Think raw egg consistency.

When measuring flour, I use the scoop and level method. Spooning flour into a cup spoon by spoon and then leveling it will make cookies that are too thin and flat.

Be sure to use proper vegan butter and not buttery spread or coconut oil as a substitute. Vegan butter spread has a higher water content and coconut oil needs modifications to work in this recipe.