I SWEAR I’M NOT VEGAN!!!!

I swear it!!!
But once again I have managed to make another vegan delight.
It just happens this way.
I swear!

So it was my original goal to post once a week. Sadly, I have already broken that goal within my first few weeks of doing this.
Sigh.
But I’ve been a bit busy. There was an exam to study for. And then there were meetings that I had to prepare for (which went very well and I’m feeling… better about grad school). And then there were Gotham Girl Roller Derby Jeerleader practices. Sometimes there’s just not enough time in the week to bake. A sad fact we must accept and then move on with our lives.

OH!! But more important than all of that, there was the dropping of Cher’s new album Closer To The Truth which I have been listening to on repeat for the past week or so. And then there was Brit Brit’s new video to get excited for! I have to admit, the song is rather club-tastic, but it get’s me going on the cardio machine. In fact, I bet it’s no so secretly being played into the ears of most of those gym goers in NYC…. Don’t be afraid to admit it, Chelsea boys. Enjoy the video:

But enough of this pop culture. Back to the baking!! I actually made these cookies for a “how to apply to grad school” meeting that I’m going to. One of the grad students who will be at the meeting telling us how to make it all happen is vegan (and also a member of the lab I work at), so I thought I should say “ThankYouForPassingOnAllYourValuableKnowledge” by making some baked goods that he could eat. Seems only fair, no?

I’ve made this recipe in various forms many a time. This time, I added more flour than usual so the cookies would hold their shape a touch more, allowing me to throw in a chocolatey surprise into the center. This idea actually came from a reversed scenario, where I made a chocolate cookie and inserted a ball of peanut butter into the center and baked. Those guys baked quite nicely, and looked like flying saucers or chocolate fried eggs because the dough just melted and baked over the ball of PB. Though adorable, the shape made them a bit annoying to package and carry around. So I tried to make these cookies a bit more “baker on the move” friendly.

YIKES!!!! I was just typing my ingredients below and realized that in my batch of cookies, I completely forgot to add 1 cup of sugar. I only added brown sugar… WHOOOOOOPS! But they cookies taste fine nevertheless. The sugar may have been nice to counteract the super dark chocolate chunks in the middle, but whatever…. you can add the sugar if you wish.

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Centers
Yields ~40 cookies

18 oz Crunch Peanut Butter (or smooth, but I like crunchy…)
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
~4 1/2 ounces vegan dark chocolate, broken into bite sized pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and combine completely.

3. WASH YOUR HANDS COMPLETELY!

Roll. Flatten. Chocolate Bit. Reform. Done.

4. Begin rolling the cookie dough into ping-pong sized balls. Flatten the ball, place a piece of chocolate in the center, and then roll the dough around the chocolate piece. Place on baking sheet, with about 1 inch between balls. Because we added a fair amount of flour, they don’t spread out much.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how soft you like your cookies. I like them fairly gooey, so I compromised and baked them for 11 minutes. Once baked to desired softness, take baking sheet and hold 2-3 inches above counter. Drop sheet onto counter. Repeat 1-2 more times. This gets out air bubbles trapped inside the cookies, allowing your cookies to remain soft and gooey instead of getting crunchy as they cool. Allow cookies to cool for ~5 minutes and then move to cooling rack to completely cool.

6. ENJOY!