Making the ultimate vegan cookies with Maya Madsen – San Diego Union-Tribune

By Caron Golden

The holidays are creeping up. Many of us are already planning what kinds of cookies we’re going to make for holiday parties or cookie exchanges. But now, not only do we have to decide between family favorites and trying some cool-looking new recipes we saw on Instagram or TikTok, but we may also need to adapt because we’re vegan, have egg allergies or are gluten-free — or have family or guests who are. Now what?

The great news is that if you want to accommodate those who are vegan, it’s very easy to make vegan cookies with readily available ingredients. Plus, you aren’t giving up any of the flavor and texture you love in your traditional recipes. Maya Madsen, founder and CEO of Maya’s Cookies, a top black-owned gourmet vegan cookie company. She  has shared a couple of her recipes and explained how simple it is to make scrumptious cookies that anyone will enjoy, even those who aren’t vegan.

Madsen is celebrating her business’s 10th anniversary. She has two very pink shops — one in an industrial park in San Diego near Mission Gorge and the other in a sweet new village being built in San Marcos near Cal State San Marcos.

Madsen spent 30 years as a fitness instructor with an emphasis on nutrition. She wasn’t always vegan, but as she educated herself about nutrition and our food systems, the more she eliminated from her diet.

“I first cut out dairy and then, over time, I cut out eggs, then chicken and pork. The last was fish,” she said. “It was a 10-year evolution. And one day I woke up and said, ‘I think I’m vegan.’”

But she was missing desserts. She loved Mrs. Fields cookies back in the ‘80s and couldn’t find anything like them in the vegan space. The vegan cookie options were dominated back then by ultra-healthy chia seeds, oats and flax.

“I didn’t want an ultra-healthy cookie on my cheat day,” she said. “I wanted a cookie with chocolate, marshmallow, vanilla, something rich and decadent. So I took a classic recipe, and I tweaked it and veganized it and made it my own and added a little flair.

“It was a chocolate chip cookie. Once I became known for my chocolate chip cookie recipe, then I’d say, ‘and they’re vegan’ and people would say, ‘No way.’”

Madsen said the majority of her customers aren’t vegan; they just like the cookies. In fact, she said many parents over the years have come in to thank her, saying their kids had never had cookies because they’re allergic to eggs. Vegan cookies have changed that for them.

Madsen’s cookies are huge — about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. And she’ll riff off basic cookie recipes she’s developed, like sugar cookies, chocolate, chocolate chip, and oatmeal. She also has some wheat-free cookie varieties.

Now, there are many ways to substitute eggs and butter in cookies. The internet has endless suggestions, like “chia eggs” or “flax eggs” (mixing either of the two ingredients with water and letting them sit until thick). There’s nut butter, applesauce, silken tofu, mashed banana, and yogurt.

The same holds for butter. You could use nut butters, seed butters, oils, aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas that you whip into a meringuelike texture) and, yes, even margarine.

Madsen spent years researching and developing her own egg replacement, which she’s now selling in her stores and online. And instead of butter, she uses nondairy butter, which is easy enough to find in markets. If you’re a cookie baker, you should have the rest of the ingredients in your pantry.

We start with her Hot Chocolate S’mores Cookies. Think chocolate on chocolate. With marshmallow. It’s thick and gooey and topped with jimmies, the rod-shaped chocolate sprinkles.

The only thing unusual you’ll be doing is prepping the egg replacer by whisking the powder with water until it’s frothy. Then you’ll chop up chocolate into chunks. With that done you’ll do the usual: mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another, then add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix well.

Madsen advises covering the dough and refrigerating it at least three hours or overnight. When you’re ready to make the cookies, give the dough about 15 minutes at room temperature if the dough’s been chilling more than three hours. Then pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and place parchment paper onto your baking sheet.

Now remember, these are very large cookies. But Madsen said that, of course, you can make smaller ones. Just shorten the bake time by a couple of minutes.

Basically, all you’re doing is using a scoop to measure out the dough. But, before you drop them onto the cookie sheet, use your thumb to poke a hole in the center of the dough ball all the way down to the bottom of the scoop so you can see the metal. Then press a large marshmallow into that hole so it reaches the bottom. Close up the hole with excess dough, then plop them onto the baking sheet. You should see the marshmallow peeking out on top. Now sprinkle the dough with jimmies and bake for 13 to 15 minutes. Once they’re baked, let them cool on a wire rack.