Have you ever craved something after seeing it somewhere?
That's what happened to me recently after I saw 2 of my favorite people to follow online — Candace Nelson and Reese Whiterspoon — making a skillet cookie.
Sidebar: when I say these are 2 of my favorites, I'm not lying. Candace's podcast Live To Eat is in my ears as I bake every single week and Reese, well, I'll watch anything she makes whether it's a YouTube video, TikTok or series on Hulu.
But I digress...
That skillet cookie looked SO GOOD and I just needed to have it but it had butter and 2 eggs in it so I had to figure out a way to veganize it. I decided to bring you guys along for the ride.
Here are the 3 recipes I attempted:
Recipe #1: Vegan Substitutions
I replaced the eggs with Just Egg (6 tablespoons = 2 eggs) and used Earth Balance vegan spread instead of butter.
The result was good but a little chewier than the non-vegan version. I wanted some more "melt in your mouth" kind of feel.
Recipe #2: Coconut Oil and Cornstarch
Instead of butter, I used 1 cup of coconut oil and the cornstarch as a binder. I was skeptical about this one and my suspicions turned out correct. This was a hot mess. I needed to add 1/3 cup of water because the dough was way too dry and in the end the coconut totally showed through.
Recipe #3: Modifying My Own Recipe
You guys know how much I love my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and I thought maybe the way to go here was to modify it to be a skillet kind of cookie. It needed to be softer and have that melt in your mouth feel. So I subbed oil for Earth Balance vegan spread and added 2 tablespoons of unmixed coconut cream to add a healthy dose of fat and flavor to it.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner here, everybody!
Strangely enough, the recipe that had different ingredients from the original was the one that came out closest to it in texture and taste!
Here's the winning recipe in case you want to try it at home:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup vegan butter
2 tbs coconut cream (unmixed from a can)
Heat the oven to 325 F.
In a cast iron or oven safe skillet, melt the vegan butter.
Lower the heat and add sugar and brown sugar mixing with a spatula or wooden spoon until emulsified.
Remove from heat and place the skillet in the fridge to cool for 10 minutes. This is important so your chocolate chips don't melt while you're mixing the dough!
Remove the skillet from the fridge but don't place it back in the heat.
Add coconut cream and mix with a spatula until incorporated.
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and mix until incorporated.
Finally add the chocolate chips and mix them in the dough.
Press down with your hands to make sure the dough is evenly spread throughout the skillet.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. The middle should still be soft and gooey.
Grab a spoon and enjoy! Top with dairy-free ice cream to make it even more of a treat!