Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies, fresh out of the oven, are shown on brown paper with shot glasses of milk

Rich, decadent Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect slightly sweet dessert! These cookies, made with coconut oil and applesauce instead of the traditional butter or vegetable shortening, are light, soft and delicious!

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Chill Time 2

Total Time 2 30

Servings cookies

Calories 76kcal

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil solid
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and sugars. Whisk until well-combined.
Add in the applesauce and vanilla extract, beating until incorporated.
Add the flour, salt and soda into the bowl. Mix until combined and until the batter has come together. (It might be a little crumbly, but this is OK. The next step will fix that right up.)
Measure in the dark chocolate chips, and stir in with a spoon or a rubber spatula. This might take a few moments, and that's OK.
Use your cookie scoop to scoop the cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour. (You can also pop them into the freezer like this.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the pre-scooped and chilled cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Space them out about 2" apart so they can spread as they bake.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Enjoy warm with a glass of your favorite beverage.

Notes

Please note that I used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to make my cookies. If you use a larger scoop, you will have less cookies in your batch, though they will be larger. The calories, as well as the number of cookies, will obviously change because of this.

These cookies are dairy free AND vegan, assuming you use my ingredients listed above. If you change certain ingredients, they might not be dairy free or vegan anymore.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

No applesauce? Use one egg in its place. No applesauce or eggs? Use 1/2 a ripe banana. You can also use a combination of 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon of white or apple cider vinegar.
No coconut oil? Use the same amount of room temperature unsalted butter OR vegetable shortening in its place.
Chocolate choices: Obviously, I love dark chocolate, so I use dark chocolate in this recipe. If you don't have it on hand and eat milk or semisweet chocolate, you can use those. I say only use 3/4 a cup of the chocolate, though, as the cookies will become very sweet.

FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS:

Since this batter makes 36 (1 tablespoon) cookies, you can easily freeze them. Simply place the cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet, and pop in the freezer for 3-4 hours. When they're frozen solid, transfer from the baking sheet to a storage baggie. When you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven to the temp listed above, and place however many cookies you want to bake on the baking sheet. Expect to bake the cookies 2-3 more minutes than the original time, but keep an eye on them!

Nutrition