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.
Vedged Out 
Gonna be a tasty weekend!
Enjoy!
You are so amazing, I saw these on FB last night and got so excited // I can’t wait to make these! They look like the cookies my mom use to make!
Heather! I hope they turned out! Love to you and yours! ❤
Those look particularly good – I’m very impressed that these are vegan!
Thanks Nick! They really are fabulous. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!
Do you find there’s any difference if you refrigerate the dough for a while before baking the cookies? I know some people swear by it but I have no idea if it really helps.
I have some in the fridge from last night. I’ll try today and let you know. But they baked up perfectly right out of the mixing bowl.
Eve. These are better freshly baked. Just tested the refrigerated dough. They’re flatter and not quite as awesome today.
Thanks so much for letting me know.
Great to know. I thought about sticking some of the dough in the fridge for later, but I’ll just bake them all now.
I love a good chocolate chip cookie! These sound fabulous!
Thanks Cadry!!! ❤️❤️❤️
My only problem with this would be the residual bisphenol from the lining of the can. I like to rinse my canned beans and get rid of as much of that as possible.
You can use home cooked chickpeas instead. See the note at the bottom of the post.
That sounds like a plan!
Let me know if you try it! 👍
Genius
❤️❤️❤️
I can’t wait to try these! And thanks for the info about the chickpea brine 🙂
Good luck!
That’s such an interesting idea, Somer! I wonder if liquid from darker canned beans (kidney, black) will work for dark-colored cookies like double chocolate chip.
Possibly! Those that are making meringues are saying the darker beans don’t whip up as nicely, so they may have less binding qualities. But it’s worth testing it out if you’ve got beans on the menu (which I always do!)
Wow! Really excited to try these. They look perfect.
Let me know if you make them!
Genius! I’ve been using the brine to make every single egg-based thing under the sun EXCEPT as a simple egg replacer! Cannot wait to make these.
Randi! Me too! I ended up having to take a break! I’m just so pleased that this works so well!!!
I’m going to ignore your insistent use of the word brine in the hopes that VM can use this egg replacement equation in a keugel!! PS those cookies look amazeballs but I have a one track mind this season.
Which word should I use? Elsewhere people were calling it bean juice. 😖 Also, why don’t I know what a keugel is?!?
These look amazing! I love the magic chickpea liquid idea.
Thank you! While the idea of using them as an “egg replacer” is mine, many others have been developing the meringue idea. It’s been fascinating to watch it unfold.
Seriously? I really must have been one of those under the proverbial rock, because I have totally missed this trend of using chickpea liquid for anything other than rinsing and draining it down the sink. But honestly…who in the world looked at this liquid and thought up using it for anything useful? lol The way people’s brains work in far different ways than mine never ceases to amaze me! Wow! Thanks for stepping out in a new and unusual way! You are a brave soul. 🙂 I will contemplate trying out this new venture.
It started on Facebook, and literally exploded all over social media! Just crazy!
Wow, what a clever idea! This is a must try. Thanks for the post!!
Thank you!
recently we were discussing cookies. i love cookies so much that I made 13 batches of cookies (instead of cake) for our wedding. And we both agreed that if you were only going to be allowed to have one kind of cookie for the rest of your life, it would DEFINITELY be a chocolate chip cookie. They are the best. These look so good.
Amey, your story makes me endeared to you so much more! I’m so glad that someone has as strong a relationship with chocolate chip cookies as me! (Actually, yours may be stronger ❤️)
I am notoriously bad at baking but haven’t played with the magic brine yet, so I’ll have to try these. Pinning right now!
Barb, I really hope that these are fool proof. I’d love to know what you think if you make them. ❤️
Oh WOW! This is pretty revolutionary! We soak chickpeas quite often for channa masala (I’m Indian) and I’m definitely going to not throw the water down the sink. Gonna try it for a cake soon!
I’m pretty sure that you need to use the liquid from cooked beans and not the soaking liquid.
Thanks so much for helping clarify this Terri! The liquid definitely needs to be from cooked beans and not just soaked beans.
Right right. I did some frantic googling to see what I should do exactly. Thanks!
Do you flatten your cookies or leave them as a ball? They look amazing but mine never turn out so flat and perfect! x
Leave them as a ball, they will flatten on their own.
These are without a doubt the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. And holy crap I’ve tried dozens of recipes. Thank! You!
Dude, this comment made my heart burst! Thank you! ❤
What kind of vanilla? essence or vanilla pods or sticks?
Essence! I used organic Mexican vanilla extract! XO
I don’t have vegan butter and am in a pinch to make these for a function in 2 hours! Could I use regular butter and have successful, albeit non-vegan, results? Or could I sub coconut oil?
Coconut oil will not work. It needs modifications. Of course you can use regular butter for non vegan results.
These are most definitely a keeper recipe Somer! Oh the possibilities! I’m totally adding roasted hazelnuts to batch no.2!! ❤️
Oh my gosh! Toasted hazelnuts! Someone on Twitter used roasted peanuts! I can’t wait to try pecans and walnuts too!
Peanuts sound awesome!
They look delicious!!
Just made them!! I used the whole wheat pastry flour which made them a bit dark in colour but they taste fantastic:)
Thank you!!
It’s amazing with the chickpea brine… I have baked every night for a week now, trying to reach the perfect macaroon 🙂 And Lemon Meringue Pie for easter (this weekend, haven’t even started on that)!!
Hi Somer, those cookies look absolutely glamorous ! I have been following the facebook group , I am in awe of all of you creating wonders with the humble chickpea brine / aqua faba. I would like to make meringue, I was wondering if the oven / baking time depends on the size of the piped meringues.
I do think the smaller the meringue, the shorter the bake time. I haven’t made any really big (pavlova) sized meringues though so I’m unsure what to recommend. Lots of people making them though who might have better suggestions ❤️
Thanks Somer. I have been googling like crazy for chickpea meringue recipes. I’ll try and see what works for me best. Btw what position do you hold in The Hogwart School Vegan Wizardry and Piecraft ?
THANK YOU for this recipe, you are a genius! I made it and it worked PERFECTLY! Best vegan chocolate chip cookies ever! xox
Are you using brine from salted cans of chickpeas or brine from unsalted cans of chickpeas? Does it matter for this recipe and for other recipes like meringues? I’m having trouble finding unsalted cans and was wondering whether this influences the amount of salt I should add into the cookies? Thank you! I love your recipes!
You can use either. The amount of salt in the liquid doesn’t make a significant difference to the cookies. For meringues though, you may want to use unsalted.
Great, thanks!
I made these tonight—they are literally perfect. Thin, crispy/chewy, delicious. Just wanted to let you know! I was nervous leaving them in balls cause my cookies never flatten, but these flattened and rippled and look just like your picture. Gonna put chickpea brine in everything now, thanks!
These look amazing and I want to try making them. Can you please tell me what vegan butter is? Is it just margarine or something else (I’m in Australia) Thank you.
Vegan butter is just dairy free margarine. You want one with a low water content, similar to dairy butter for best results.
Hi Somer 🙂 I’d love to try this in a GF version (or perhaps just Whole Wheat). When you say that using coconut oil instead of vegan butter would require some modification, in what way do you mean? Adding more liquid…? Or? Would appreciate any clue.
Thanks 🙂
You need to turn coconut oil into vegan butter with the right liquid/fat ratio for it to be successful. There are several links in the post with instructions. I can’t guarantee results otherwise. While wheat flour should be fine. I use vitacost gf flour with great results, but I’ve had several people to to make this with bob’s red mill gluten free flour that didn’t have success.
I just made these and they turned out a bit weird. I’m thinking it might have to with the fact that when I added the chickpea brine (or in my case cannellini bean brine) the batter separated! The cookies turned out super oily, so I tossed them out. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Hi Joey! Did you follow the recipe exactly? Some people haven’t read the directions thoroughly and use the spoon and level method rather than the scoop and level method. All purpose flour does work best, I’m finding out that various readers are saying that different brands of gluten free flour aren’t as good as the one I use in my home. If you are using gf flour you may need xanthan gum.
Finally, cup measures are slightly different in other countries and that can have an effect on the outcome. As well as the type of vegan butter you use. I would say for sure if your cookies turned out oily, there’s not enough flour. I’ve had hundreds of people make this recipe successfully though, so I really can’t pinpoint what went wrong in your situation. So sorry!
I’m reading through the comments before I try making these and just have a thought; did you use Earth Balance as the vegan butter? I know tons of people swear by it but it separates on me in literally every application I have used it in. I have no idea why it happens to me and (it seems) nobody else, so maybe we are in the same boat? Black magic in our mixers that doesn’t like Earth Balance?
Nicole, you don’t have to use earth balance at all. I have three different homemade vegan butters linked in the post. But something like coconut oil will not sub straight across.
Thanks! I know I don’t have to use Earth Balance, I rarely use it anymore because of the separating issue and because I mostly try to avoid palm oil. Actually I just made these cookies today and they are fabulous! I’ll have to try not to eat them all before I can take them to share. They don’t have the lovely crackly tops in your photos though
I can attest that these are the best chocolate chip cookies. I have made a lot of cookies in my life, vegan and otherwise, and they’ve always come out good, but not like Mrs. Fields worthy. These, I could sell and make millions!! The taste, shape, and texture are all there.
Also, I mixed the dough by hand with just a wooden spoon. Perfect. I can’t wait to make more of your recipes and try the other chickpea brine uses.
You are a treasure to the vegan world and the entire world, too.
Stop it. You’re going to make my head explode! Thank you so much Charlie!!! ❤️❤️❤️
They are yummy but I forgot that my sweet tooth is much lesser than other people’s! Next time I will probably cut the sugar in half to suit my tastes. Any baking wizards know how this would affect the consistency?
I made these for my vegan neighbors next door. They were amazing. Everybody loved them, vegan or otherwise. You wouldn’t know they were vegan if you were not told. Made a salad out of the open can of garbanzo beans. Haha.
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi, these look wonderful, would love to have a go, but the recipes for butter all seem to include lethicin and I’m not keen on that as an ingredient… do you think vegetable shortening may work? Just got some non-hydrogenated shortening that I may be able to get my head around…
Peace xx
I think that would work great.
@DangVegan brought these to our monthly vegan potluck and they were a huge hit–such a huge hit that they were GONE before I had a chance to try them. Fortunately, he and I (@ChicoVegan) had met previously on some super-secret business 🙂 and he gifted me with a few of my very own. They are indeed amazing cookies. Thanks for developing and perfecting this recipe. SLC vegans rock!
on our facebook group someone tried these with plain oil and they came out great.
Do you have any idea what kind of oil? I’ve tried and didn’t have success with coconut oil straight up. The cookies were WAY too oily.
These turned out fantastic!! Every vegan chocolate chip recipe I have tried labeled “best” all have failed miserably in my opinion always being either too cakey or tasteless or tasted pretty much like flour with chocolate chips added, even the blogs that have a ton of rave reviews. These were so good thank you!! No more experimenting and wasting a bunch of expensive ingredients. This will be my go-to from now on.
I made these with gluten free flour and they were amazing! All the non-vegan, non-gluten free people I gave them to loved them. I used the butter from veganbaking.net and Dove’s Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour Blend (with rice, potato [does not say if flour or starch], tapioca, maize and buckwheat listed in the ingredients) – I’m in the UK. I added an extra tablespoon of chickpea water, as GF flour can be soak up more moisture, and 1 tsp of xanthan gum.
I am so excited about this recipe! I have wanted to make a chewy-type cookie that’s gluten free and vegan for ages. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I’m so glad you had success!!!