The only certainty is bad grammar

ya. ya. i KNOW. i say “vegan chocolate chip cookies” and what you hear is “tofu mixed with soy and other icky crap,” but i swear on my roommate’s dog’s life that these things are amazing.

I made them for work on election night and even AFTER i told everyone they were vegan, they still beat out the other chocolate chip cookies (which were NOT vegan).  true story. sorry [person who made them], but they did. and my understanding is that you’ve come to terms with it, and well, vegan cookies need all the help they can get, and I believe throwing in that piece of information will help my cause. umm, i mean. whatever. it wasn’t a competition or anything. it’s all good.

anyway. now, to the point.

so basically, I just ripped off the recipe from the back of the Ghiraradelli semi-sweet chocolate chip bag, and then tweaked it to make it vegan and added a cool ingredient to make it awesome. beware, i do add sugar even though some vegans are anti-sugar.  I haven’t gotten there yet. however, if you are one of those vegans, feel free to add whichever sugar substitute you’re comfortable with.

all right, without further ado:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I personally used whole wheat flour, and nobody could even tell)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup coconut oil, softened (this is what I used to replace the 1 cup of butter called for in the recipe).
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I actually used dark brown for mine because the Wal-Mart was out of light).
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (feel free to use the fake stuff).
• 1/2 cup of smashed bananas. the fresher the bananas the less their flavor will come through in the cookies. (this replaces the 2 eggs called for in the recipe).
• 2 cups Ghirardelli Semi-sweet chocolate chips (they have to be semi-sweet, because they don’t contain milk. and even some semi-sweet chips do, so make sure to read the back of the bag).
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut (something I added simply because I’m on a mission to incorporate coconut into more foods. it should be noted that many of the cookie eaters told me they really enjoyed the coconut).

preheat oven to 375 F. In a small bowl,  stir the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Then, in a larger bowl, mix coconut oil, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and smashed bananas slowly, mixing on low until incorporated. Then, gradually blend in the dry mixture. Next, stir in chocolate chips and coconut shreds. Drop by the tablespoon onto cookie sheet (the recipe calls for ungreased, but i sprayed mine with a canola oil cooking spray). Bake for about 8 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, place the cookie sheets on the warm stove, as they will continue to cook for a about half hour to get firm. If you leave them in the oven until they are firm, they will burn.

Then enjoy.

And remember, these cookies are so freaking good that even NON-vegans will freaking love them. true story.