Fridays during lent make for some very boring meals when you are dairy free.  There is only so much quinoa, eggs and avocado one can eat.

Which leads me to these dairy free chocolate chip cookies.  My brother’s birthday is on Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day.  I wanted to bake something for him that would be a break from his normal horrible diet.  He makes cookies, yellow cake or his signature peanut butter blast shake on a daily basis.  While he manages to stay a healthy weight (except I think the term sympathy weight was based on his experience of how much weight he gained in the 9 months leading up to Holly’s birth) I know his arteries and such could stand to have a little coconut oil in place of all the butter and crisco he consumes.

I figured I’d go for cookies since he usually has to be tricked into eating anything I cook or bake because he assumes it is healthy, which for only him would be a negative.  For many years I have used apple sauce in place of butter or vegetable oil when baking but it doesn’t work in cookies.  Since going dairy free at the beginning of the year I’ve been using coconut oil in almost everything and have been singing it’s praises.  I thought I’d try to make a traditional chocolate chip cookie but dairy free.  Disclaimer I’m not saying this is healthy, it has oil and loads of sugar…but it is dairy free and the coconut oil is in place of the butter or crisco, which is a better alternative.

Recipe for the Dairy-free chocolate chip cookies – 2 dozen

3/4 cup coconut oil (see description in instructions for consistency)

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons coconut milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups uncooked oatmeal

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (there are dairy free chocolate chips out there, I just don’t use them)

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Beat together the coconut oil and brown sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed.  IMPORTANT the coconut oil should be soft but not melted.  You can put it in the microwave for a few seconds if it is really hard, or in the fridge for a bit if it is a super hot day and the coconut oil has completely liquefied.  You want it to be able to cream it with the brown sugar the way butter would.  Then add in the coconut milk, vanilla and egg.  After all these ingredients are blended add in the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking soda).  Blend in the oatmeal, chocolate chips and pecans.  I used a small cookie scooper to ball the cookies onto the baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let them cool for a few minutes before moving them to a plate.

The boys gave these cookies their seal of approval

 Alex then decided to stand on the scale and weigh himself while eating his cookie!Now next time I’ll try a gluten free flour and oats so hopefully it can be not only dairy free but gluten free too!