As some of my readers may know, I am allergic to most store-bought chicken eggs. Over the years I have learned this is less to do with the egg itself, and more to do what the chickens are fed, as I am unable to eat chicken or turkey either, unless it comes from a farm where commercial grains and pellets are not used as feed. In more recent years, I’ve discovered that if the egg is brown-shelled, I am generally able to eat it just fine (unless it comes from Walmart), but white-shelled eggs are still an issue for me. As a result, I look for eggless versions of various recipes and came up with my own version of eggless pancakes many years ago. I simply replaced the eggs with 2 tablespoons of baking powder!
But sometimes you want a cookie! This time round, it wasn’t me wanting the cookie, it was my daughter, and her brother’s birthday was coming up. I’d had a mentally difficult day and she’d had a somewhat difficult week at work. Rather than do something as rash as engage in shopping therapy, I suggested a skillet cookie and she found a recipe. She actually found several, but this one was the most conservative with the amounts of butter and sugar. One eggless recipe she found was replacing the egg with cream cheese??!! NO thanks!!! I don’t mind cream cheese, but completely out in left field for something like this!
The recipe we settled on at 9:38pm, comes from a vegan website, but otherwise had the amounts I was willing to work with. I made several adaptations however, so now I’m sharing my recipe here, with an adapted-from notation to begin.
Large Eggless Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
Adapted from: https://foodwithfeeling.com/vegan-skillet-cookie/print/13746/
My adaptations include the fact that as mentioned earlier, I am not vegan or vegetarian. I am simply allergic to most store-bought eggs and therefore need an eggless recipe where the amount of egg-to-flour is often high, such as in the case of the typical chocolate chip cookie recipe.
~ My first adaptation was to go with normal, non-vegan ingredients for butter, milk, flour, and the chocolate chips.
~ My second alteration to this recipe was to replace the butter with olive oil due to the cost of butter and coconut oil where I live. The olive oil is more affordable.
~ A third alteration was to use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. Whole wheat has more of the bran left in it, which helps your gut do it’s job. All-purpose and other white flours have had the bran removed, which is very bad for your gut!
~ My last alteration to the recipe was to leave out the baking soda! I have a bad habit of adding even just a teensy bit too much and everyone in the house tastes it badly! So I deleted that ingredient from the list and did not put it into my batter.
My dough bothered me at first, looking fairly crumbly once everything was mixed together. It’s been So long since I made such a cookie recipe that I forgot that at the point of adding the chocolate chips, you CAN use your hands to fold it in! I used a spatula instead, but go ahead and use your hands, just remember that raw flour is not wise to eat, so don’t eat the cookie dough! (I know, I know, famous last words)
In spite of the crumbly appearance of the dough, I dumped it out of the bowl into the frying pan and pressed it into an even layer and put it in the oven. When the timer dinged at 25min, I tested with a fork in a few places, and one place didn’t come out clean, so back in it went for another 5 minutes, after which it very much looked done.
When I cut it into wedges to serve, and lifted out the first slice, to my pleasant surprise the cookie was not only nicely baked, but also held together!!! I can’t count how many attempts at various eggless recipes I’ve done over the years, where the result falls apart on me! This cookie did NOT fall apart on me!
I am so thrilled with how this recipe turned out, that I am publishing it here on my blog! I am sorry I didn’t take a photo of it in the frying pan, but I hope the photo of slices of it helps you see the end result. We ate three of the slices last night.
So without further adieu, here is my:
Large Eggless Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, 8 tablespoons, softened* (1/2 cup coconut or olive oil will also work)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips, additional for topping
Instructions:
1) Preheat your oven to 350F
2) Grease your 10 or 12 inch cast iron frying pan or skillet.
3) In a medium to large mixing bowl, blend together the butter or oil, and the two sugars.
4) Add the milk and vanilla extract and blend together
5) Add in the flour and baking powder and blend till combined.
6) Fold in the chocolate chips. You may want to use your hands at this stage. Dough may be crumbly.
7) Transfer to the frying pan or skillet and press into an even layer across the entire surface of the pan.
8) Bake for 25-30 minutes and test with a fork to see if it pulls out clean. If not, put the pan back in the oven for another 5 minutes. The cookie will be browned around the edges and turning a golden colour in the middle.
9) Feel free to add more chocolate chips on top for garnish, or throw on top before putting the skillet in the oven.
Serve warm with ice cream. Any remaining uneaten cookie should be covered.
