Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made about 300 cookies for the holidays--the first time I've ever baked for the holidays. After each new batch, I cut a single cookie in half for my husband and me to try, then immediately put the rest in the freezer. Until I made these cookies. They were so incredible, I ate three in a row. They were my and many of my family's favorite holiday cookie.

This recipe is from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I modified their basic chocolate chip recipe only to add the peppermint extract, a tip I got from Sweet On's blog.

I think this is the best chocolate chip cookie ever--soft and chewy on the inside, a little crispy on the outside, and wonderful. The mint makes it just perfect. I made these tonight to bring to work tomorrow (thought kept quite a few for myself).

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24 2-inch cookies or 16 3-inch cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or your favorite nondairy milk (I used regular soy milk)
• 1 tablespoon tapioca flour (I used arrowroot powder)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two large baking sheets.
2. Combine sugars, oil, almond milk, and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until the mixture resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it's important that you don't get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla and peppermint.
3. Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stiff so use your hands to really work the chips in.
4. For 3-inch cookies, roll the dough into balls about the size of ping-pong balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. As they cook, they will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes--no more than 9--until they are just a little browned around the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks.
5. For 2-inch cookies, roll dough into walnut-sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for about 6 minutes.

My notes: I've made these three times. Two of those times, the dough was so un-stiff, I couldn't roll it into balls. Instead I just dropped it by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet. Also, even though each batch of mine were small and made between 24 and 30 cookies, I still had to bake them for 8 to 9 minutes.