Upon learning that my presence was expected at my Nana’s house for a little family get together, I was off in two seconds flat, raiding my ample supply of vegan cookbooks. It just seems natural for me to always bring something sweet whenever we go for a visit, almost anywhere… But really, I just love the excuse to try out new recipies on my unsuspecting family.
Pouring through the pages of How It All Vegan!, I stopped on the “Chocolate Chip Bars.” The sounded safe enough – somewhat recognizable, not so strange or “healthy” that my little cousins would be repulsed. A quick skim of the ingredients lead me to believe that they were just like blondies, but having never made blondies, I naturally had no clue what I was talking about. Nonetheless, I proceeded, and yeiled confusing – but good – results.
Reviews were somewhat surprising: Not at all like blondies [you dumbass], hardly even like cookies… Maybe they should be called cake bars? Of course, when I bake cakes, they fail to rise or cook all the way through, leaving a dense, mushy mess. But when I try to make cookie bars, they become light and fluffly instead. It was such a dense dough when I was ready to press it into the pan, the texture really took me by surprise.
The flavor was good, very tasty, my aunt said that she couldn’t stop eating them infact. I found them to be on the slightly bland side, but sometimes simple can be better. They just didn’t excite me too much. Next time, I think I may substitute brown sugar, and perhaps more vanilla.
Here’s the recipe, with the very slight change that I made.
Ingredients:
-3 1/2 Cups Flour
-1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
-1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
-1/2 Tsp Salt
-1 1/2 Cup Sugar
-1 Cup Oil
-1 Cup Vanilla Soymilk
-1 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Add the oil, soymilk, and chocolate chips and mix together gently until “just mixed.” Pat mixture into a 9×13 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting into bars.
I didn’t count how many this made, but as you can see from the above tower, even medium sized bars give you a lot to munch on.
I can’t to try it!!! It looks wonderful!
In case anyone stumbles across this post (like I did on a hunt for new choc chip cookie recipes):
This is THE standby baking choice for my circle of friends at college (and I am the only one who is vegan). Making these cookies as is does produce nothing too spectacular, but there are a few tricks.
We always bake them a little less than the actual time so they are bit more moist. We like our cookies a little gooey. For the best results, though, eat them after they have been refrigerated–completely different texture and taste.
And the cookie dough (like most vegan cookie doughes) is just delicious to snack on itself!
This is my favorite vegan dessert recipe, mainly because it was the first vegan baked good that I attempted. I found that it tastes even better when you add some chunks of your vegan white chocolate along with the regular chocolate. Makes them a bit exciting.
Made these this afternoon with only one change, I don’t keep vanilla soymilk in the house because I hate it, lol. So I used plain and about a tablespoon of vanilla. I know, sounds like a lot but I can’t complain. The bars are great! Warm or cold, I don’t care, I tried them both ways. This will be a regular thing around my house, you don’t get much quicker or easier. And I can’t wait to get your book Hannah!
I’ve just made this but replaced the chocolate chips with fresh blueberries and a handful of dried strawberries and cranberries. It looks amazing, I’m just waiting for after dinner to eat it!
Mmm… definitely try it with blueberries, it was delicious. Have just realised that I forgot to add some vanilla to compensate for the plain soyamilk. Nevermind – it tasted great anyway (and was enjoyed by my non-vegan friends too).
Hannah:
Love your blog,recipes and ur amazing book.I want to make ur butterscotch blondies for my son,he is allergic to soy can i use rice or coconut milk?
Sharanya