Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are like your favourite black t-shirt, good-to-go any time of the year. These choc chip cookies with a crisp outside and moist citrusy chocolate centre are super easy to make: just sift, mix, chill, bake.

I used a small amount of grapeseed oil as a substitute for fat; grapeseed oil has a high smoke point (about 420-445’C) for a vegetable oil, so it’s unlikely to oxidise and produce off flavours during high temperature cooking. The combination of its high smoke point and very neutral flavour makes grapeseed oil one of the most versatile options in the kitchen.

I’ve given 2 ingredient options depending on your diet requirements:

• gluten-free flour OR spelt wheat flour

• paste OR unrefined sugar

Date paste - makes 1½ cup - 20 medjool dates soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and puree to a paste in the blender.

Health benefits –

·       Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health. Made from seeds of the cocoa tree, it’s one of the best sources of antioxidants.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Makes about 20 cookies

PB,V, DF, GF

1½ cups GF flour or spelt wheat flour

½ cup cacao powder

½ tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt

1½ cups date paste OR 1½ cups unrefined sugar

1 orange, zest

½ cup plant milk

¼ cup grapeseed oil

1 vanilla bean, slit with a knife and seeds scraped

200g 70% dark chocolate, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 180’C. Sift the flour, baking powder and sea salt into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix. Chill the dough for 10 minutes. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a lined baking tray, spacing the cookies 5 cm apart. Bake for 12 minutes so the centres are soft.

Remove from the oven and use the pan-banging method; lightly tap the pan on the table two or three times so they’re less fluffy. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes. Repeat until all the cookie batter has been baked.