Rocky Road Takes Over My Cookie Jar

Imagine taking all the goodness of your pint of rocky road ice cream, and baking it into a gooey, chunky, irresistible cookie form.

Now stop imagining. Let's make it reality.

Remember that cookbook I've been lusting after at the book store: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar? Lust no more! Thanks to my dear friend Katie, I received a copy of this awesome cookie-filled text in the mail yesterday (Three cheers for Katie!) . Loaded with over 100 tempting cookie recipes, I can hardly wait to bake my way through this cookbook over the next several months. I'm sure the bookstore staff will miss watching me copy cookie recipes onto my napkins in the coffee shop (Embarrassing, I know).

When questioning which recipe to begin with, I decided to start with the cookbook's cover model--a chocolate cookie loaded chocolate chips, white chocolate, and toasted almonds. Let's face it: you don't put a cookie on the cover just because it looks good. These cookies rock...and will need a large glass of (non-dairy?) milk for dunking.

Quick notes:

• This dough is less firm than one might expect from a cookie dough--it resembles a thick brownie batter. Trust the recipe! Give them a little room to spread on the cookie sheet (about 2 inches), and you'll be just fine.
• No worries if you don't have non-dairy supplies on hand for vegan cookie recipes. Just substitute in milk, regular chocolate chips, etc. where the non-dairy versions are used.

Friends, we still have one tiny problem: I'm going to subject you to more cookie recipes over the next few months, as I bake may through this delectable cookbook. I apologize in advance. Well, not really. Everyone needs more vegan cookies in their life, right?

Thanks again to Katie for her infinite thoughtfulness from across the miles :)

Rocky Road Cookies

(from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar)

These chunky chocolate yum-yums are over-the-top good. I didn't have any vegan chocolate chips on hand though, so I just used the dairy version. Came out fantastic just the same!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
• 2 TBSP ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1- 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1- 1/2 cups plus 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (vegan or not)
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, chopped

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper).

2) In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, flaxseeds, oil, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix until well blended and smooth. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir well to form a thick, wet dough (similar to a thick brownie batter). Mix in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and almonds. (Optional: you can chill the dough for 30 minutes to firm up more, but the authors indicate this step is not necessary. Since it wasn't necessary, I skipped it!)

3) For each cookie, drop 2 TBSP of dough onto a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart (cookies will spread a little).

4) Bake cookies for 8 - 10 minutes until they crack just slightly on top (check at 8 minutes!). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.