ALL DOUBLE CHOCOLATE VEGAN COOKIES GO TO HEAVEN

BLAM! KABLOOEY! BEEP BEEP! POW! HEAD BUTT! 

Those are the sounds of my chocolate cravings.  I can be a totally balanced hum-dum person when it comes to eating for only so long.  I'll be eating oats for breakfast, big salads and sandwiches for lunch, pastas and grains for dinner for about a week, when suddenly and without warning, a hurricane of chocolate wants descends upon my soul.  Usually we have a lonely delicious chocolate bar (one of our favorite things to shop for) hanging around the pantry, but this past Friday, there was only a little morsel left in its the pretty wrapper.  

So that was that.  Double Chocolate Cookies were in order -- done.  I got a bit more chocolate and some parchment, and the rest was a snap.  I love these cookies because they are soft and very very intense.  Plus, they're vegan so all eaters can enjoy -- and they conveniently don't call for any fussy egg replacers or non-dairy butters . . . I like recipes where I have (almost) everything on hand in my pantry -- granted, my pantry is obsessively stocked with an array of options, but hey, I like to eat and be prepared. 

There's something about these specific chocolate morsels that take me back to Mrs. Fields, during my days of hanging out at the mall.  Shopping for stickers, perusing Contempo Casuals for Baby-doll dresses, bin candy, romantic comedies, Mrs. Fields cookies that were sold in a funnel for stuffing in your face -- the mall brought a lot of fun stuff to my life.  I still have a soft spot for the awful monuments to consumerism!  Mrs. Fields' have come and gone -- and these cookies are far more chocolaty and honest and good for you . . . I HIGHLY recommend them for when you got that feeling -- or even if you don't, they'd be a great addition to the holiday cookie parade.  

Double Chocolate Vegan Cookies

(adapted from Veganomicon)

makes about 2 dozen cookies

2 cups flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup canola oil

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoons ground flaxseeds

1/2 cup almond milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.  In another medium-sized bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.  Fold the second mixture into the dry, stirring just until uniform.  Try not to over mix!  Place one-inch balls of dough on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Cook for about 10 minutes (they will seem a bit soft) and allow cookies to fully cool on baking sheet.  Cool completely (or have one gooey one right off the pan!) and they'll be perfect -- chewy and chocolaty.  

Then, relax in the chocolate bliss you've just created.