Vegan Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
‘
Hello & Happy Thursday!!
Let’s. Talk. Cookies.
I’ve tried and baked a myriad of vegan cookies and while I love the majority, nothing compares to these Levain style cookies! Some of you may be asking, what the heck is Levain cookie and why do I care?
Let me tell you!
Levain Bakery is a widely loved NYC bakeshop that features all the baked good staples. However, it’s so good you’ll see it on tv left and right and everyone just raves about this shop. Something I always factor in is that to survive in NYC, no matter what you’re selling, people have to love it. The rent is so high, there is so much competition and the list goes on. This bakery, sells.
So how did this one chocolate chip cookie
captivate an entire country? I’ll tell you.
Everyone loves a classic chocolate chip cookie, but this approach is just next level. It features cake flour, which adds a lightness, lots of butter (needed), more brown sugar than white for more of a softer cookie texture, and the one strategy I love most is that they make the height of the cookie sky high. By adding height the inside cooks slower making it more of a doughy center. Last but not least, the temperature is key as its higher than traditional cookies at 410 degrees, giving you a crisp outer edge and just a slightly soft center.
The combination of all these variables truly delivers a fab cookie that will have you saying, wow, I’m never going back to traditional cookies!
What’s fab about my vegan version? Everything! It’s modeled after the most sought after recipe, features just flax eggs, you don’t have to sift in the dry ingredients, uses vegan butter and stevia sweetened chocolate chips, mirrors the real deal, has a rich chocolate flavor with notes of peppermint an enriched chocolate flavor with the tahini, it compromises nowhere with texture or flavor, requires a minimal chill time (thank goodness), it’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and just hands down is the perfect holiday cookie!
If you love fab vegan cookies or food trends, you have to try these new vegan Levain Style Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies!
Why this recipe is great:
Quick
Easy
Affordable
No sifting of ingredients
Rich notes of chocolate and mint
Minimal chill time
Crispy outside
Soft inside
No sifting of ingredients
Vegan Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8-24 Cookies depending on size 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegan Butter, cold, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup White Sugar
- 2 tbsp ground flax combined with 6 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup tahini (optional)
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
- 1 cups Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Stevia Sweetened Chocolate Chips
- 2/3 cup crushed peppermints or candy canes
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the ground flax and water. Set aside to thicken. This will serve as the eggs in the cookie
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed vegan butter, brown sugar, and white sugar for 2-4 minutes until fluffy, you don’t want it runny.
- Add the flax egg mixture and peppermint extract and mix well (1 minute)
- Now add in the tahini (optional)
- In a large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients. Gradually add in the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in increments (flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt) mixing after each time just a little until combined. Avoid over mixing. Fold in chocolate chips. Cover and chill the dough for 15 minutes. If you skipped the tahini, skip the chilling. Also, without the tahini the cookies will spread less + bake faster.
- Separate dough into large roughly shaped balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. Don’t make the dough too smooth, you want the dough roughly formed and tall. You will fit 4 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8 extra large cookies.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes and once removed from the oven place chopped peppermint candy on top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set. You can add the chopped peppermint when you bake them, but they will melt.
Notes
- If you over mix your batter, they will be flat
- If your butter melts, they will spread more
- If you don’t stack the dough high enough, they will be flat (makes 8 cookies)
- If you over bake them, they will be flatter
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
Made these—my first try at a Levain style—with the tahini. I was so nervous they wouldn’t be cooked through. They came out beautifully! These are going to be my go to gift cookie, they’re so different. Thank you!