Entry 15: Personal Favorite: Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are some companion characters from the Dragon Age games who display personality traits or quirks that are incredibly relatable. There's Leliana's love for shoes, Varric's affinity for the Hanged Man, Josephine's secretive pride in her doll collection, and perhaps most memorable for me, Sten's curious excitement for cookies.

Source: Dragon Age Wiki

Sten is a unique character from Dragon Age: Origins who seems to be loved overall by the Dragon Age fanbase. He is a hornless Qunari warrior, has a stoic and uniquely honest demeanor, and is rather cultured. According to the Dragon Age Wiki, Sten has shown an interesting sense of curiosity since a young age. And while "hornless Qunari are rare ... a curious Qunari was unheard of." As a member of the Qunari military, his background is fraught with violence from patrolling Seheron, the Qunari-occupied island to the north, to clashing in battles with forces from the Tevinter Imperium. But he nevertheless maintains a calm sense of clarity and curiosity in his outward behavior. He is proficient in the in-game "common tongue" and Tevene, the official language of the Tevinter Imperium. Sten also appreciates fine art, such as portraiture and sculpture.

If your player character recruits Sten to your party, you can learn he was sent to Ferelden by the Qunari military leader, the Arishok, and tasked with learning about the blight. When you speak to Sten at your party's camp, you can ask him about his thoughts on Ferelden, to which he replies unfavorably. But you can press him for more and he will describe his liking of a sweet, crumbly, bread-like food item:

Source: FluffyNinjaLlama

Honestly, I felt compelled to make the poor, big guy cookies right then to make him feel better, and then send the recipe and a sack full of ingredients with him back to Qunari lands. Chocolate chip cookie ingredients, to be specific.

This Lucrosian mage has been making chocolate chip cookies for a long time, and when I first started eating vegan I thought my cookie-baking days were over. I worked hard to develop a perfectly chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe for years and did not initially believe I could replicate such success with vegan ingredients. Fortunately, I was wrong! I have been able to modify and adjust my chocolate chip recipe with some help from one of my favorite vegan bloggers and YouTube presenters, The Viet Vegan. She has a fantastic chocolate chip cookie recipe that is very close to mine. This recipe is one of those never-fail staples of Ferelden that can ease any adventuring party's minds, hearts and empty stomachs. Take a look at the sections below for my recipe and sources.

To begin, I arranged my ingredients on my counter: ground flax seed, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, semi-sweet chocolate chips, nuts, and vegan butter.

I regularly reuse glass jars. That's why my baking soda is in a jam jar with a salsa lid.

The secret to my new-found success.

To begin, I like to melt my vegan butter over low heat on my stove.

After setting that up, I turned my attention to the flax seed. Ground flax seed mixed with water is an excellent replacement for eggs. Flax seeds are nutritious and low-calorie. When ground and set with water, the mixture develops a goop-like consistency that bonds well with various wet and dry ingredients.

After about 10 to 15 minutes, test the flax seed consistency with your finger to make sure it is combined and goopy-feeling.

Then I measured and combined my dry ingredients.

Once the butter had melted completely, I poured it over the sugars...

And mixed together well...

And then added my vanilla extract.

From here, my prepared flax seed was ready to be added.

Mmm, this is the consistency I look for:

Next I added the mixed dry ingredients.

And now this is the consistency I look for:

Mm, mm, mm, smooth perfection:

It was time for the chips and nuts. I used walnuts and chocolate chips.

The chips are leftover remnants from my pre-vegan days so they are not vegan. You can substitute with carob bits or vegan baker's chocolate. You can also look for vegan chocolate chips are your local market. If you find a brand at a decent price, please let me know.

The next step is to wait. I like to place my cookie dough in my refrigerator for about 30 to 40 minutes to chill. Chilling your dough makes for a chewier cookie, but this step is entirely optional. If you are short on time, you can skip this step and still have delicious cookies.

While my dough chilled, I cut and arranged parchment paper on my baking sheets.

Not much to clean up, so I left that for later.

Once the dough has chilled slightly, I began scooping and rolling out 2-inch balls onto my baking sheets.

And after about 10 minutes in the oven, I had amazingly perfect cookies!

This recipe yields about 25 sizable cookies.

...Plus a little extra dough to save for eating later.

These cookies were so delicious, I had to have traps set around them to keep the good folks of my Skyhold from eating them too quickly.

The Qunari are indeed missing out.  The new Arishok must send envoys to collect chocolate chip cookie recipes to test out and then bake to distribute throughout the whole of Qunandar. Maker, that would be a great side quest in Dragon Age 4.

These cookies can be stored in an air-tight container for up to a week. If you have any leftover dough, I recommend eating that up within 3 or 4 days.


Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 tbsp ground flax seed + 4 tbsp warm water (set aside to gel for 10-15 minutes)
1 c vegan butter (such as Melt)
1 c white sugar (can be reduced to 3/4 cup)
1 c brown sugar (can be reduced to 3/4 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
A pinch of salt
1 - 1 1/3 c semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
3/4 - 1 c crushed walnuts (or crushed almonds)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a small bowl, combine ground flax seed and warm water, set aside to gel for about 10 minutes.
Melt butter in a small pot over low heat.
Stir baking powder, baking soda, flour, and salt together.
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer (or a spatula and a lyrium or stamina potion) beat melted butter with white and brown sugar until light, creamy and fluffy.
Add vanilla extract and flax mixture, beat until well mixed.
Add dry ingredients in 3 or 4 parts and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips and crushed nuts with a spatula.
(Optional: Chill dough in your refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes. Fold over a few more times with a spatula.)
Roll 2-inch balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown and cookies are slightly puffy. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a minute on baking sheet.
Move cookies a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container.


Like what you are reading? Great! Come back for a new entry on Thursday, July 26. And have a look at my previous entries for other recipes and Dragon Age-realted trivia and oddities!

Have any friendly suggestions or cool ideas? What me to veganize your favorite recipe? Please feel free to comment below. You can also email me at foodsofthedas@gmail.com, message me at AGSamuels on Reddit, or tweet me at @FoodsofThedas  on Twitter.
You can also follow me on Instagram, @gourmetveganthedas.

If you try out any of my recipes, please share your results on social media using the hashtag (#)gourmetveganthedas.

Walk always in the Maker's light.

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Sources:

Dragon Age Wiki: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Age_Wiki
Dragon Age Wiki, Sten: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Sten

FluffyNinjaLlama: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhDL-BLChwxDqvWCpoGVrQ
FluffyNinjaLlama, Sten: About cookies and feeling homnesick [Dragon Age: Origins]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HC37Nwfr3Y

The Viet Vegan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPOgooHtYIfgotZsHA7_wZw
The Viet Vegan, Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JCykg4iN0I

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