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Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies are such a classic sweet treat, there is just hardly any competition. I feel there is nothing more comforting than a warm cookie that is oozing melted chocolate when taken out of the oven! Sprinkled with big sea salt flakes – and you are on your way straight to dessert heaven. Well, I think the only way to make great recipes even greater is to ensure that they are not only good for us but also good for the planet.
What is carbon-neutral baking and why is it important?
Carbon neutral baking? Is this a thing now? Yes, it should be! It focuses on baking with ingredients that have a low to zero-impact on emitting carbon. Especially in our everyday baking, we are so accustomed to use exotic ingredients like cacao and vanilla that we forget how many emissions their production and shipment requires.
Take vanilla for example. Ground vanilla is made from vanilla pods that can only grow in certain locations. To process them, you must transport them from the field to a factory. Transport will probably rely on fossil fuels that have a negative carbon impact. This impact can be extended to the entire production process. Understandably this is a problem. And we as consumer should be aware of the impact when we choose to buy these products.
But by no means we have to give up on exotic vanilla or chocolate. There are great companies on the market that take the carbon footprint into consideration. So let’s make our Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies not only delicious but ALSO climate friendly! To do so, I use carbon-neutral ingredients from Naturata which are their chocolate chips, the ground vanilla, and the maple syrup. That is one more reason to switch from conventional products to organic Naturata products! They start to take responsibility and offset the total CO2 emissions generated during the production and transport for a lot of their products with help of myclimate.
It’s all in the ingredients
So now that we made our cookies environmentally friendly, we want to make them extra yummy too. Ever wondered why salt tastes great on sweets? Surely, these cookies will taste amazing without salt but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! Chocolate is so very sweet, which can dominate the flavor palate of any dish that it is added to.
For example, think of the greatest brownies you ever had. We’d bet they had something bitter in them to offset the sweetness of all the chocolate. Personally, I love to add a teaspoon of coffee powder to the brownie mix. The inherent bitterness of the coffee really turns up the volume on the richness of the chocolate – it’s great! We included salt in this recipe for the same reason. It tastes completely different from the super sweet chocolate, allowing you to have a more rounded flavor overall.
A little advise on the side: Invest in real ground vanilla! I know it comes at a price but you only need a little and it will elevate all your dishes a notch. Same goes for maple syrup! Always go for the real deal and not for flavored syrups. They don’t taste great nor are they good for you. As for chocolate, I never buy chocolate chips, I always get the bars and chop them up myself. I encourage you to try this vegan chocolate with coconut milk – it is my current favorite! The coconut milk makes the chocolate super creamy but with a dark chocolate flavor which pairs perfectly with the sweet and salty cookies.
Feeling the cookie craving now? Get your hands on some climate friendly baking goods and treat yourself to a big batch of warm gooey cookies!
Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 400 g flour/ glutenfree flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 big pinch salt
- 200 g chopped vegan chocolate (By Naturata)
- 1/2 tsp ground vanilla (By Naturata)
- 100 g coconut sugar
- 100 g maple syrup (By Naturata)
- 100 g coconut oil (melted)
- 70 g water/ oat milk
- 1 handful salt flakes
Instructions
- In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, chopped vegan chocolate and ground vanilla until well combined.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the coconut sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil and water/oat milk. Add the mix to the dry ingredients and fold it in using a spatula. You don't want to overmix the cookie dough.
- Refridgerate the dough for an hour.
- Form little balls using an ice cream scoop. Flatten slightly with your hands. Sprinkle each cookie with salt flakes.
- Preheat the oven to 160 Degrees Celsius and bake for 10-15 minutes. You never want to overbake, take tzhe cookies out as soon as the edges start to golden. Let cool for some minutes before eating.
For more chocolate chip recipes, make sure to check out these recipes for: