Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies

Any margarine designed for baking or cooking, that does not contain animal-based ingredients, is perfect for vegan cookies. Vegan butter is also fine as long as it states on the packaging that it can be used for baking or cooking.

Many supermarkets own brand of baking spread/margarine are also suitable for vegans and are less expensive, so can be a good choice as they usually work just as well compared to branded margarines.

Margarines or spreads that state 'lite' or 'reduced-fat' etc, are generally not that great for baking and cooking, as some of the fat may have been replaced with additional water or other ingredients.

Soya, oat, almond or rice milk are perfect choices for vegan cookies. It doesn't matter too much whether your milk is sweetened or unsweetened.

However, technically, any plant milk that you normally use can be added to vegan cookies, as the plant milk is simply a liquid that replaces the dairy milk.

Any chocolate chips, drops, buttons or morsels that are labelled vegan can be enjoyed on a vegan diet.

Although, some supermarket own-brand of chocolate chips may not be labelled vegan but still contain vegan-safe ingredients.

So, it is worth checking the labels as some chocolate that has the vegan label is likely to be much more expensive compared with unlabelled accidently vegan chocolate.

A product may be regarded as 'accidently vegan' if it contains no animal-based ingredients yet is not officially identified as vegan and it may/or may not have a vegetarian label. A company has to pay extra money for a vegan label so some prefer not to have the added expense or they may not wish to identify there product as dairy free in case of issues with consumers allergies, etc.

Also, if vegan chocolate chips are too expensive a cheaper bar of dark chocolate [either labelled vegan or accidently vegan] can just be broken into even size pieces and used instead of chocolate drops. The end result will be just as good.

When looking for 'accidently vegan' chocolate in the supermarket or food stores, look out for these ingredients that indicate the chocolate has animal ingredients:

* whey powder

* milk solids

* milk powder

* milk fat

* anything stating as from or derivative of *dairy* or *milk*

* lecithin [that derives from animal products] [although soy lecithin is vegan]

* lactose

* goat or sheep milk

**This is not an exhaustive list and there are likely other animal based ingredients that are found in chocolate that are not listed here**

**This list is not exhaustive and other vegan-friendly ingredients not listed here are likely to be discovered in chocolate**

Some accidently vegan chocolate may state 'may also contain milk' which is generally an allergy disclaimer, as the product was prepared in a factory where milk products are also being manufactured so cross-contamination may occur. Unless dairy allergies are an issue then the chocolate can generally be deemed safe for vegans.

* soy lecithin [emulsifier]

* cocoa butter

* cocoa mass

* cocoa solids

* fat-reduced cocoa powder

* raw cacao butter

* raw cacao powder

* cacao nibs

* essential oils such as orange or mint

* maltodextrin

In some countries, such as the US, some sugar products are refined using bone char which is obtained from ground cattle bones, so is not regarded as vegan.

Although in the UK, most of the sugar brands do not use bone char so most UK sugar varieties can be regarded as fine for vegan diets. Brands such as Tate and Lyle, Silver Spoon and Billington's different types of sugar are all vegan.

However, some icing sugar or Royal icing sugar may contain eggs so do check the packaging. For a vegan icing [powdered] sugar try Tate and Lyle icing sugar.

If your from the US or outwith the UK, and are concerned about bone char in sugar, then it is best to check with the the sugar manufacturers to see if they use bone char in the sugar refining process.

Or source organic sugar products which are not processed using bone char. Also coconut and beet sugar do not use bone char.

For more information check out peta.org Is sugar vegan post for a list of US sugar manufacturers that do not use bone char.

If for some unknown reason you would like some creative ideas on what to do with some leftover chocolate chip cookies, although this is an unheard of concept for most families, then here is a few ideas:

* the original Toll House cookie recipe was intended to be crumbled over ice cream, so an easy yet delicious dessert would be a scoop of vegan ice cream with a sprinkle of broken chocolate chip cookie chunks or mix the cookie pieces through the ice cream

* add some choc chip cookies to a home-made vegan milkshake and blend, use a little extra crumbled cookies as a topping

* make home-made choc chip cookie truffles:

First, squash the cookies together back into a dough, use a food processor or crush with a rolling pin or tin can. Although, these cookies are moist enough so it should be easy enough to squash back into a dough using just use your hands.

Mix through a little vegan cream cheese just enough to make everything stick together, and easily roll up into cookie balls. The cream cheese is not essential and the cookie dough balls will be just as good without this addition.

Dust the cookie dough balls in cocoa powder or icing [confectioner's sugar]. Or first dip the cookie balls into melted chocolate and then cover in sprinkles, chopped nuts, or desiccated coconut. Pop into the refrigerator to set. These little tasty make-shift truffles would be great for a party or movie night.

* use a food processor to turn the cookies into small crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the frosting of any cakes, cupcakes or buns that need decorated. Or add to vegan ice-cream, yogurt, etc.

* making chocolate brownies? once the batter is in the baking pan push in pieces of broken cookies all over the surface, the brownie will cook and the cookies will meld into the gooey brownie and be delicious

* some desserts such as cheesecakes and those with biscuit/cookie pie crusts etc, use crushed cookies, [or biscuits if your in the UK e.g digestive biscuits] so perhaps use crumbed chocolate chip cookies instead for the recipe

* add chunks of broken cookies to a refrigerator cake bake or chocolate bark