Vegan Levain Style Salted Caramel Turtle Cookies
Hello & Happy Tuesday!!
Let’s talk cookies!
If there is one style of cookie I’m currently obsessed with, it’s the Levain style cookies! Levain is a widely loved NYC bakeshop that features all the baked staples. It’s so good you’ll see it on tv left and right and everyone raves about this shop. So how did their cookie become so iconic?
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 make you say, wow, I’m never going back to traditional cookies! When thinking of the next best variation of this cookie, I knew we had to do a Salted Caramel Turtle cookie! There is something about this cookie combo that just captures my attention. It’s sweet, salty, crispy, crunchy, and caters to just about everyone in the flavor department.
If you’re familiar with this cookie, you know that without a doubt that finding a ready made vegan version is nearly impossible. That being said I want to explore a homemade recipe, because you actually can find vegan caramels online that work great in recipes. While we all love a fun healthy spin on vegan caramel, trust me, it won’t work in a cookie lol. Get these caramels!
What’s fab about my vegan version? Everything! It’s modeled after the most sought after recipe, features just flax eggs, can all be made in 1 bowl, you don’t have to sift in the dry ingredients, uses vegan butter and stevia sweetened chocolate chips, has tons of vegan caramels and toasted pecans. compromises nowhere with texture or flavor, it’s sweet, salty, savory, crunchy, perfect for any season, requires a short chill time (thank goodness), it’s crispy on the outside and slightly soft on the inside, and just hands down such a win in the cookie department!
If you’re all about this style cookie, you have to try these new vegan Levain Style Salted Caramel Turtle Cookies!
!
Why this recipe is great:
Quick
Easy
Sweet + Salty
Short chill time
Crispy outside
Soft inside
No sifting of ingredients
Made with stevia sweetened chocolate chips!
Vegan Levain Style Salted Caramel Turtle Cookies
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 Large or 16 Medium 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegan Butter, cold, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup White Sugar
- 2 tbsp ground flax combined with 6 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 cups Stevia Sweetened Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 8 or more pieces of Cocomels vegan caramels
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 or until fluffy. Don’t over mix till its runny. Pro tip: Keep the butter in fridge until you’re ready to use it.
- Add the flax egg mixture and vanilla, mix well (1 minute)
- 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 overmixing. Fold in chocolate chips, chopped caramels and chopped pecans. (you can toast the pecans if desired prior to folding in).
- Chill for 20 minutes
- 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 or you can make 16 medium size. Once the cookie dough is on the pan, chill for 10 minutes if it seems too soft from sitting out. If your dough is too soft it won’t have as much height post baking.
- Bake for 9-10 mins minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set. Garnish with Maldon salt.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
These look amazing! Can they be made gluten free? If so, what gluten free flour would work best?
Hi Heather, You can absolutely try gluten free flour with this cookie, I’m just not sure they make a gluten free cake flour. Typically when you use GF flours in recipes you compromise the texture.
I can’t wait to try them!! What brand of vegan butter do you recommend?
I use Earth Balance, but you can use any kind!
This recipe looks great!!! If I don’t have griund flax then what can I use instead of that? Also the recipe doesn’t have to be vegan style, can I replace ground flax to egg? Then how much egg do I need for that?
You just need 2 traditional eggs. Simply add them in one at a time slowly to the mixer.
I love your recipe, do you have a non-vegan option as well? Thank you!
You can sub the vegan butter for traditional butter and so on. The final product will be the same!
Hi! I love this recipe. So much in fact, that I want to bake it in bulk and so I as wondering. If I wanted to multiply this recipe by 100, Would it still work? Like would I have problems with the flax eggs or something? Thanks!
Hi Lili, There are various websites to convert recipes into larger quantities.