Chocolate Chip Cookies - Egg / Dairy Free

Is it Tuesday already?  I was just about to wish everyone a happy Monday!  In my defense, it was a long weekend here.  My hubby came home after being away for five weeks, yay!  At 2:30 yesterday morning, I packed our sleeping kiddos in the car and went to his work to pick him up.  The kids and I are ecstatic to have him home again.  It's always a happy time when he returns from his TDY's.  But, now I have a fog in my brain that'll probably need a couple of days to clear.

In honor of my very good mood, I baked some cookies.  This is a favorite of mine - Henry Friendly chocolate chip cookies.  I love baking cookies.  They're fun and they have endless possibilities, much like cupcakes.  But, a couple of years ago, I felt bad because I didn't really have anything to share with Henry when I made them.  He'd just sit there and quietly watch his older brother eat my creations.  He actually didn't seem to mind, but I did.  So, I grabbed the Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe, and modified it to fit our needs.  This was the start of many more modified recipes.

It came out pretty great, if I do say so myself.  It has a different kind of sweetness than the original recipe, due to the applesauce added.  And, because the dough doesn't have raw egg in it...  Well, that's a treat of it's own.  It's really a very easy recipe, so I didn't take pictures of each step.  Here's how to make it:

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup Crisco Butter Flavored Shortening, or 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Scant 1/2 cup applesauce (I like to use the single serve applesauce snack cups, 3.9 oz)
2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips (Favorites of ours - Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks and Enjoy Life Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat shortening or oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and applesauce in larger mixer bowl until creamy.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by round tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake 9 - 11 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks.

Printable Recipe

These tend to be fairly soft right out of the oven, which is why I let them sit on the baking sheets a few minutes more.  At that point, they're sturdy enough to be moved to the wire cooling racks.  You'll notice these cookies tend to be a little underdone inside when you bite into them, but in my opinion that just makes them yummier.

These make about 3 dozen cookies size of the cookies you make.  And how much dough you eat.  :)