Vegan chocolate orange brownie cookies with chocolate drizzle and real orange zest. These bakery style cookies are extra fudgy and thick, just like all cookies should be! They taste exactly like Terry’s Chocolate Orange in a dairy free cookie form, so us vegan’s can have our cookie and eat it too.
Is there a vegan chocolate orange?
Ok I’ll be honest. I made these cookies because I had a massive craving for Terry’s Chocolate Orange. I know the vegan God’s would be full of wrath, but this time of year the shops are crammed with the little chocolate oranges and thus my cravings begin! So this Winter I decided to take action and combine my two favourite sweet treats: chocolate orange and cookies.
The ingredients
I promise these delightful cookies will satisfy your sweet tooth. Made with Montezuma’s like no udder ‘milk’ orange chocolate, you will not be missing Terry’s this Christmas. I adore Montezuma’s for their ethics; they’re a UK based company selling ethically sourced chocolate and with eco friendly packaging to boot. So you can enjoy these Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownie Cookies knowing you’re being kind to the farmers, environment, and of course yourself!
These plant based cookies are extra chocolatey, benefitting from both good quality cocoa powder and a surplus of vegan milk chocolate. Opt for caster sugar as it readily dissolves on mixing resulting in a velvety smooth cookie dough.
What makes cookies chewy?
These vegan cookies are inspired by the American style cookies that tourists skip down Time’s Square in search of. Don’t know what I mean? Well, maybe that was just my school trip. These thick, gooey cookies are crammed full of chocolate pieces, so American, vegan or whichever label you choose, you’ll be unable to say no to these delicious treats.
I like my cookies quite dense and fudgy so these cookies are almost brownie like in texture. To achieve this I’ve added a good amount of liquid in the form of almond milk and sunflower oil. The second tip to chewy cookies is to chill them for at least 30 minutes in the fridge; this helps some of the water to evaporate leaving more sugar behind and therefore a denser, thicker cookie. If you always struggle to bake perfect bakery style cookies it’s worth checking my post ‘How to Bake Vegan Cookies’.
Another trick I’ve learned is use both bicarbonate of soda and baking powder, the latter being more acidic, which will keep the cookie dough from spreading too much in the oven. I usually use both leavening agents in my bakes. Vegan recipes omit eggs so you often need something to both bind and give rise to the dough. After forming the cookie dough into balls, freeze them for an additional 10 minutes. This ensure the cookies retain their shape meaning less spread in the oven. Enjoy whilst still warm and gooey or test your patience and enjoy at room temperature with a glass of dairy free milk.
Leave a comment and let me know how you get on making these Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownie Cookies. I would love to see your creations over on instagram!
more vegan treats
Vegan Chocolate Orange Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
To make the cookies
- 300 g caster sugar
- 140 mls sunflower oil
- 100 mls almond / oat milk unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1/2 tsp orange extract
- 300 g plain flour
- 80 g cocoa powder
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 140 g vegan orange chocolate *see notes
* To decorate
- 1 orange zested
- 40g orange chocolate melted
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk the caster sugar, oil, plant based milk, vanilla and orange extract.
- In a second bowl sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add 1 tsp of orange zest.
- Roughly chop the orange chocolate into a mixture of small and larger chunks. Fold two thirds of the orange chocolate into the dry ingredients.
- Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients just until all the flour has been incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Form the cookie dough into 16 balls and place on the 2 baking trays. Slightly flatten the dough balls and top with the remaining chunks of orange chocolate.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C / Gas 6.
- Place the balls of cookie dough in the freezer for 10 minutes to help them firm up. Then proceed to bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until the edges are firm and slightly crisp.
- Remove the cookies from the oven. Sprinkle over the remaining orange zest. Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle over the cookies. Leave to cool and firm up for 5 minutes on the baking tray.
- Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.