Vegan Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the classic Nestle Tollhouse recipe, veganized and with a few tweaks.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon of Ener-G egg replacer
• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (dark brown sugar adds a nice touch of molasses flavor)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups of chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

Turn on the oven to 375 degrees farenheit. Combine the flour, bakind soda, salt, and egg replacer in a bowl. Mix them together and set aside.

Beat the margarine and the sugar together until they are well combined and creamy. If you're taking the margarine directly from the freezer, you can put it in the microwave for a few minutes on a very low power setting. Be careful not to melt the margarine, though.

Add the vanilla to the mixture. Then add the dry ingredients bit by bit until they are completely mixed. Don't overmix. At this point, it will probably be too dry. Add a small amount of cold water bit by bit until the dough just starts to hold together. You'll probably need about 1/4 cup of water total, but add it in smaller amou nts.

Add the chips (and nuts if you're using them) and mix them evenly through the batter.

For baking, form the dough into balls on a baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, until they're golden brown. If you have parchment paper, put this on the baking sheet to make it much easier to get them off the sheet. If you don't have parchment paper, you should allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving them to the counter or a wire rack for cooling. After about 10 minutes, they're just ready to eat. They are really delicious when they're still a little melty, so eat one now.

This recipe will make 20-24 cookies, depending on how big you make each cookie.