It was 8:00 and we’d just finished dinner and story time. Daddy was on his way upstairs with the kids for their bedtime routine and I was headed off to the kitchen to start baking. You may not know this about me, but I find baking incredibly relaxing. It’s what I do to unwind, relax, and regroup. Alone.
Just thirty minutes prior, I had set butter out on the counter to soften…real butter. I was in a baking mood and I wanted chocolate chip cookies…the kind with real butter, real eggs, and dark chocolate chunks. I don’t remember the last time I baked real chocolate chip cookies, hence the somewhat urgent craving.
I walked into the kitchen and started gathering my ingredients…eggs, milk, vanilla, flour, raw organic sugar…That’s when I heard footsteps and my son’s tiny voice… “Mommy, what are you doing?” I’m silent for a minute, already foreseeing the next question because it’s so completely obvious what I’m doing. “What are you baking?” he asks in his sweet inquisitive voice. What I want to say is, “Sweetheart, it’s bedtime. It’s very important that you go to bed on time and get enough sleep for school in the morning.” But what I really say is, “I’m baking chocolate chip cookies,” (and I REALLY wanted those chocolate chip cookies!) already prepared for his response. “Are they going to be Vegan?” At this point, I’m stuck. I can either bake two different batches of chocolate chip cookies, or simply put aside my desire for a warm, chewy dairy and egg-filled chocolate chip cookie and make the vegan alternative. It’s late and I’m getting tired, so I look into his sweet brown eyes and say, “Yes honey. Of course they’re going to be Vegan so you can have them.” But I’m not off the hook yet because my son is two steps ahead of the game. “But why do you have eggs and real butter out?” Guilty. I’m not in the habit of lying to my children and I was a little caught off guard. However, in this particular situation, where telling him that I was planning to make the most delicious dairy and egg-filled chocolate chip cookies ever and that he wouldn’t be able to eat any of them would have just devastated him in that moment. He really is great about avoiding foods he can’t eat when he’s at school or out. But home is supposed to be a safe place. “Silly Mommy” I laughed. “I took the eggs and butter out by mistake.”
What ensued was about 15-20 minutes of measuring, mixing, and baking vegan alternatives. My son and I have been baking since he could hold a spoon, and despite my initial longing to have some “me time,” I really enjoyed making those chocolate chip cookies with him. And when they were done and he had finished eating the first one, he looked at me with those brown eyes and said, “Mommy, those were the best cookies ever!” My heart melted and of course I let him have just one more before bed.
Living with food allergies is difficult…not just for my son, but for our entire family. It touches so many aspects of our lives…some, most people wouldn’t even think about. Like whether I should feed my son before a birthday party or bring in treats to have on hand at school. It dictates where we shop, where we dine, and how we plan activities. The question I’ve been debating lately is whether or not our home should be a safe environment for him…free from any foods he can’t eat. But I have a daughter…a daughter who, as far as we know, isn’t allergic to any foods. Do I “deprive” her of those foods? It’s a decision I’m constantly going back and forth on.
Not the prettiest but they taste incredible!
In general, I resort to getting my cravings for real milk lattes and real butter desserts satisfied outside of our home. While I can’t say that every food in our home is safe for our son (we’re working on it), we’ve done our part to ensure that he has a wide variety of foods that he can eat. And every single meal I make for our family can be consumed by him. I’ve spent countless hours reading, researching, speaking to parents and professionals, and experimenting to give him as many food options as possible. I’ve learned to make cheesy vegan pizza, delicious vegan pancakes, hearty allergen-friendly soups, and the most delicious Vegan Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies I’ve yet to taste. This recipe is simply an adaptation of Hershey’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I was going to use initially:
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup of Earth Balance Soy-Free Vegan Butter, softened (if there are no soy allergies, you can use their Vegan Buttery Sticks)
- 3/4 cup organic sugar
- 3/4 cup organic dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tsp dry Egg Replacer mixed with 4 tbsp warm water
- 1/2 bar (depending on the size of the bar and how much chocolate you like) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add egg replacer, beating well. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in dark chocolate chunks.
- Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.
But the question still begs, should I as a parent make our home a safe place for my son so that he can walk into the kitchen, pick up a food and not worry about whether or not he can eat it? I’d love for any of you who have dealt with this issue to weigh in on the topic.
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This is a parenting challenge that just hadn’t occured to me before. I”m going to forward this post to my brother — he has a 18-month old that he and his wife are trying to raise vegan.
Thanks Jennifer. I’d love to hear if he has any advice or words of wisdom.
Caryn, great meeting you the other day at the mom blogger lunch. I know families at my kids’ school that have very serious food allergies and it does impact all aspects of their lives.
Christina…It was great meeting you too! Fortunately, schools are doing some things to help but as a whole, it’s still very much the parent’s responsibility….
Love that you share these recipes. Last Friday at Mikey’s classroom birthday party there was a little there that couldn’t eat any of the cupcakes and it broke my heart because he started to cry. I wish I could brought some of these.
Aracely….my son faces this all the time…but he doesn’t cry anymore….But I do as much as I can to make him special treats….And these were YUMMY! He probably would have liked them LOL!
Caryn thank you for this awesome recipe. My nephews are severely allergic to ….everything (almost)- My sister is always telling me to keep on the look out for allergy-free recipes! I think if she switches out the wheat flour with rice flour this will be a great recipe for the boys!
Thank you so much for posting.
Hey Jamie! Are they allergic to wheat (gluten)? Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Sprouts have some amazing gluten-free alternatives. Definitely have her check them out. They also post recipes (at least the Whole Foods blog does) : )
Yum! I love earth balance vegan butter. I made oat muffins yesterday with it plus brown sugar. Can your son have almond meal? A friend of mine has a great recipe with almond meal, coconut oil, raw sugar, and dark chocolate. Oh, man. I think I need to make some cookies now!
Hey Yvonne! Yes…he can have almond milk/meal…I’ve never used it….but he can’t have coconut or soy…..
Brett has the allergies (crazy ones but, we’ve talked about them 🙂
He’s gotten old enough now (it starts at about 1st/2nd grade where the kids start taking responsibility on for being aware of what is in their foods. He’s great about asking what the ingredients are now and knows to stay away from peanuts (thank heaven his isn’t bad, so we’re being vigilant so it doesn’t get bad).
The boys have other friends the same ages who also do the same – take responsibility for not eating things they are allergic too. Just teach him how to find the alternatives. We have a friend who’s son has major dairy issues and his mom taught him to take the cheese off of pizza at birthday parties. He can eat the pizza just fine without it. And he remembers all to well what it feels like to eat the cheese and orks hard to avoid now. 🙂
Hey Katie…I know….I imagine that as they get older it gets better? We just ensure we do a lot of teaching and provide him with as many allergen-friendly alternatives so he doesn’t feel deprived or left out.
You’re an amazing mom Caryn. I commend you for how you handled your sons inquiry on the recipe and how you immediately modified it for your son’s dietary needs. I love your recipe. Are you sure this is vegan? These cookies looks so delicious.
Aw… Eva….believe me… I really wanted those cookies! LOL Re: the recipe? There are no animal products….so yes, it’s vegan. You would need to check to be sure the dark chocolate you use is free from animal products. Other than that, sugar, flour etc. are all animal-free products : )
Thank you for sharing this. My oldest son has multiple food allergies and we have dealt with them for the last almost 5 years. My youngest son shows no signs. Luckily we are only anaphalactic to nuts and while I didn’t feed him milk and eggs, I felt good about having it in the house. The baking was always the hardest because the vegan recipes were never quite as good as a “regular” recipe. But I am lazy and never wanted to make two batches so we endured. My youngest son has had ice cream about 4 times in his life as a result. He really doesn’t know what he is missing but in a few years he will. It is a struggle I am putting off. We recently were able to start introducing milk and eggs into my allergic sons diet as long as they are baked. Our yummy cookies are back!! But, while he can eat a yummy cookie now, he still eats his snack alone at school at the allergy table. It is a constant struggle and my heart has broken so many times over the years. But I do my best and he knows he is loved and that is all we can do. You sound like such a great allergy mom. Stay positive and do what you can. Your #1 is to keep your son safe and you sound like you know just how to do that. Hugs to you!
Hi Sharon…I can’t even imagine having to worry about anaphylaxis. And I agree completely that baked goods and baking is incredibly difficult…to get the right flavors and textures….I do a lot of experimenting….I’m hoping that soon we can start introducing some of the less allergenic foods…..our target age is 5….Thank you so much for your encouragement and wisdom…..it’s comforting to know that despite the struggle there is hope….
The decision we’ve made is to remove all or virtually all gluten (that is our nemesis – my son’s and mine) from our household. However, there is just the three of us and my husband feels better without gluten too. We had a problem a few months ago when we found he and I were still having problems, despite going gluten free. We found we were still eating trace amounts and now only eat Certified gluten free; this is MUCH more difficult and expensive. All my ‘reliable’ and cheap (corn tacos, beans, rice) gluten free foods are now gone 🙁 I’ve been researching companies to see if their transportation and manufacturing is ‘safe’ but it’s slow and scary going. I am so TIRED of getting glutened (my made up word 😉 ). My son, though, is awesome! He asks “Is that Certified gluten free?”, he’s not yet three so I think that’s great! It can be difficult when he sees things in the store he ate before that are now off limits and his Grandfather mistakenly sent him some treats he used to eat for Christmas, there were a lot of tears for that.
I have never thought about trying to make vegan cookies. This recipe looks really good and I am definitely going to have to try them.
That’s a tough situation- I’m thankful we don’t have any food allergies in our house. I think I’d have a hard time keeping out all the goodies. lol That’s awesome that you’ve learned to change and adapt recipes though… and they still look and sound delicious!
My friend has celiac disease and I’ve seen the challenges she’s had when we go out to eat. When she asks for the nutritional guides or the gluten free menu, she gets looks. I sometimes wonder if people think she’s doing it to watch her weight as she’s tall, skinny and beautiful, not realizes the horrific pain she goes through if her body consumes gluten. She would love to go to a pizza joint, order anything off the menu and wash it down with a beer but that will never happen. Now that her 1 year old is showing signs of gluten intolerance, gluten is also being removed from his diet. There are still products with gluten in their house but as her son gets older, he’ll be taught, just as your son has been taught, what he can and cannot have.
I love trying vegan recipes. Thanks for sharing. These looks super delicious.