Orange-Kissed Double-Chocolate Chip

This one seems to be a hit... They're disappearing faster than I can bake them. Double-chocolate chip cookies used to be my own favorite, before I dropped sugar/flour/et. al., and as much pleasure as it used to give me to eat them is now what I get out of making them for everyone else. I wanted to come up with something slightly different and easier to make than my signature yet quite rich Sinless Decadence, so I played with the venerable Vegan Punk'ers version, cutting the fat and sugar and adding the "kiss" of orange. A friend and tester said they were reminiscent of one of those whack-'em chocolate oranges -- so I think I can now safely add this gypsied recipe to the annals as "approved".

Orange-Kissed Double-Chocolate Chip Cookies
yields 72 cookies (or 24 cookies plus two batches to freeze)

3/4 cup Earth Balance or Canoleo Soft non-hydrogenated vegan "butter"
1 cup fresh orange juice (with pulp)
1 cup water
3 cups vegan sugar
1 Tbsp organic high-quality pure Vanilla extract, such as Nielsen-Massey

1 1/2 cups unsweetened soymilk
4 Tbsp whole flax seed

6 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
2 1/4 cups cocoa (Dutched or not, your preference)
1 Tbsp baking soda
1/2 Tbsp salt
12 oz (2 cups) chocolate chips; or 12 oz semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Cream the vegan butter, orange juice, water, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

2. If you have a standard-power blender: Whirl flax seeds on high power until they are powdered, then pour in the soymilk and blend on high until completely smooth and the mixture thickens considerably (these are your "eggs"). Set aside.

3. In a very large bowl, use a dry whisk to blend the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips together. Make a well in the center and pour in the creamed mixture, then fold the two together with a wooden or silicon-tipped spoon. Just before the dry and wet are totally combined, add the flax "eggs" and start folding again until you have an even dough (it will be rather sticky).

4. If making all the cookies now, line 5-6 cookie sheets with parchment, then place 1 1/2" balls or chunks of dough spaced about 2 inches apart over the parchment (totaling 72 cookies). If baking only one (24-cookie) batch, after divvying out your 24 balls of dough onto the lined sheets, divide the remaining dough in half then place each in a zippered freezer bag coated with oil or cooking spray, remove all the air before sealing, and freeze for the next time you have a chocolate-attack.

5. Bake the cookies at 350F for 10 minutes only - very important! They will seem soft, but if allowed to bake longer will lose their lovely chewy texture and start to resemble hockey pucks. After 10 minutes, remove trays from the oven and carefully transfer the cookies to a rack with a spatula to cool completely. Then watch them start to vanish one by one...

Nutrition per cookie: 118 calories, 4 g fat, 21 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 11 g sugar, 2 g protein