Vegan Carob Chip Cookies
These gluten-free vegan carob chip cookies are outrageously good! They can be made with chocolate chips or carob chips and gluten-free or wheat flour and they come out delicious every time!
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No one will ever guess that they are gluten-free, vegan, or that they have no refined sugar! I adapted this recipe from Betty Crocker’s classic chocolate chip cookie recipe nearly 2 decades ago after I first went vegan and it has been my tried and true cookie recipe ever since! Many agree that it’s better than the original version!
You’ll love this recipe because it’s
- healthier than traditional chocolate chip cookies.
- gluten-free, vegan, and can easily be made soy-free too, so everyone can enjoy them.
- refined sugar-free! The unrefined sugar is actually what makes them taste so good!
- simply delicious! These are what I make to bring to parties and potlucks and everyone always raves about them!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Margarine – you can use Earth Balance or equivalent vegan margarine, my homemade vegan butter, or coconut oil. Either should be soft, but not melted.
- Sweetener – Cane sugar (Sucanat) or coconut sugar work the best and give these cookies a rich complex flavor that you don’t get from white sugar.
- Egg Replacement – I like to use a chickpea egg, a flax egg or Ener-G egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs.
- Vanilla – for flavor.
- Flour – I have made these numerous times with many different types of flour, white, wheat, spelt, and gluten-free mixes and it always comes out well with all of them.
- Salt – for flavor.
- Baking Soda – to help them rise.
- Carob Chips – We love the taste of carob chips, but you can use any chocolate chip that you like too.
These carob chip cookies don’t taste like a “healthy” cookie at all. The secret to these cookies is cane sugar! Cane sugar is an unrefined sugar that still contains molasses. This gives the cookies a sweet rich flavor that will get you addicted after one bite!
I love cane sugar, and so do my kids! We put it in and on everything, you would use sugar for. It is simply dehydrated cane sugar. It tastes similar to dry brown sugar.
Can dogs eat carob?
Yes! Dogs can eat carob and they love it!!! Just don’t share any chocolate with your dog!
You can use either carob chips or chocolate chips for these cookies, whichever you prefer. My kids love the carob chips, and best of all my dog, Leo, can eat them too. (In moderation, of course).
How to make them gluten-free
These vegan chip cookies can be made with regular all-purpose, whole wheat, or gluten-free flour. I like the Namaste brand or Trader Joe’s all-purpose gluten-free flour mix for this recipe, but all gluten-free flour mixes that I have tried have worked well.
Whole wheat texture in gluten-free cookies
I used to make these vegan chocolate chip cookies with whole wheat flour years ago before we needed to be gluten-free. I missed the texture of the whole wheat flour so I started using flax meal as an egg substitute. It gives it the texture and nutty richness that I had missed from the whole wheat.
Egg replacers
You can use a chickpea egg, a powdered egg replacer like Bob’s Red Mill, a chia egg, or a flax egg as you would the egg in a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe. All options work well, but the flax gives it some extra fiber and the texture of a whole wheat cookie. Check out my post on how to substitute eggs in any recipe for more egg replacement ideas.
Pro Tips
- Use an AirBake cookie sheet! These are great for all types of cookies! They keep a more even temperature and I haven’t burnt a cookie bottom since I started using them!
- Make sure the margarine or coconut oil is soft, but not melted. They don’t come out as well otherwise.
- Since they are very soft cookies, let them cool completely on a flat surface. They will fall through the cracks of a wire cooling rack.
More vegan cookies
Check out all of my vegan cookie recipes!
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Easy Vegan Shortbread Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan carob chip cookie recipe
Vegan Carob Chip Cookies – Soft Batch
Ingredients
Flax egg
- 1/3 cup water, to mix with flax meal (omit if using other egg replacer)
- 2 tablespoons flax meal, or Ener-G egg replacer = to 2 eggs
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup softened vegan margarine or coconut oil
- 1 ½ cup organic cane sugar, or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Dry ingredients
- 2 ½ cups flour, most GF flour mixes work well
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum , (if using gluten free floureven if it’s already in the flour mix.)
- 1 cup carob chips, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
- Mix flax meal and water and set aside.
- Mix margarine and sugar with a mixer until blended smooth.
- Add flax mixture (or the egg replacer mixture) to the margarine and sugar, along with a teaspoon of vanilla, and beat with a mixer for 30 seconds
- Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients, using the low setting on your mixer until everything is combined.
- Stir in the carob or chocolate chips with a spoon.
- Put heaping tablespoons of cookie dough on a dry cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a flat countertop.
Notes
- I like to use an Airbake cookie sheet for these cookies to ensure that they don’t burn on the bottom.
- Make sure to let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 3-5 minutes before transferring them onto a flat surface.
- Make sure that the margarine or coconut is soft but not melted.
- If using coconut oil, choose refined coconut oil if you don’t want it to have a coconut flavor.
- The dough will be a golden brown color from the Sucanat or coconut sugar, so they may look done before they actually are.
- If you are making these gluten-free, be sure to use xanthan gum or they will be crumbly.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
Has anyone ever tried making them with Almond flour? Any tips for using Almond flour?
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
They keep for about 3-5 days on the countertop or you can freeze them up to 3 months.
This looks so good! What a great way to give a classic recipe more health benefits!
Thanks, Suzanne.
just tried this recipe， it is crispy delicious，but mine turns out to be too much oil
How do you make these soy free?? The only carob chips I can find (and I’ve been looking for years) all have soy lecithin. I am also dairy free. There are vegan chips without dairy, but still have soy. Do you know of a brand of carob chips without soy?
To make them soy free I use Chatfield’s brand carob chips or you can use Enjoy Life chocolate chips. I find the Chatfield brand at my local Whole Foods or order it from Amazon. (The link in this post will bring to you it in Amazon). Enjoy! 🙂
This recipe is awesome! I’ve made it a few times already
(FYI- the instructions forget to mention adding in the vanilla, so I just added it with step 4)
I’m so happy that you have tried these and like them! I think that they are my all time favorite cookie! Thanks for the heads up about the vanilla, I will fix that. 🙂
I just made these last night! They came out perfectly soft! They are the best gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookie that I have made by far! Thanks so much for this recipe! I printed it out and it will be my go to from now on!