You're My Obsession + Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will freely admit that I'm obsessed with food.

But I don't consider myself a "foodie." I will eat soup out of a can and dinner out of a frozen cardboard tray. I've been known to pick up some fast food on my way home from work. I cook -- but sometimes the results are less-than-savory.

Still, this obsession has spanned several countries across the planet. It has taken me from eating chicken hearts at churrascarias in Brazil as a child to my current plant-based diet. (That means I don't eat any animal products. No, not even butter or cheese. You can also call it "vegan," but I choose not to use that word for a number of reasons; that's another story that might or might not be told in a future post.)

I've had an eating disorder.

I use a calorie counter to track my food intake and exercise output. I even weigh my snacks.

I write weekly about vegetarian menu options in my fair city. Well, the fairest city closest to me. I don't actually own Denver.

I like to cook, and I like to bake.

I've considered going raw and gluten-free, even.

This is all about food. And me.



And also, as proof that vegan food is not necessarily cardboard-tasting, here are some cookies I made last week. (Recipe source: The Joy of Vegan Baking, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau; I used EarthBalance butter-replacement sticks, Bob's Red Mill egg substitute, vegan chocolate chips -- baby ones -- and organic whole-wheat pastry flour.)

These were made exactly as the recipe in the book lays out. I did notice that the amount of cookies made is well over one dozen -- these were bigger than I would normally size cookies, and I made eighteen. I would say the recipe easily makes two dozen "normal" cookies. Whatever that means.

Also, I'm not sure these were baked all the way through, despite leaving them in the oven for the allotted amount of time. Not like it really matters for vegan cookies; there's no raw egg to make you sick. But I bet making them smaller would also bake them more thoroughly.

Verdict was good, though, despite the giant cookies and possible under-baking. My husband (vegetarian, not vegan) said he could tell they were vegan ... because he didn't hear any baby cows crying for the milk of their mothers.

In other words, score!

(I will say these are not quite on the level of the America's Test Kitchen chocolate-chip cookie recipe. That one's definitely my flavorite.)