Probably most of you have a stand-by recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Maybe you know exactly how many chocolate chips you want in your cookies and how that texture should be. Well, I don’t. I’ve made tons of cookies in my life, but chocolate chip cookies never made it into my oven. Probably because they are the type of cookie I bought in a box. Probably because I never knew how famous that cookie is in some parts of the world. Probably because it’s the All-American and not All-German cookie. When I became vegan I tried to bake chocolate chip cookies a couple of times and failed. They always came out horribly, no matter what recipe I tried.

Two weeks ago I made my own version or to be precise: I made chocolate chunk cookies. Or to be even more precise: chocolate chunk marzipan cookies. I made two versions and they came out wonderfully. One is made with chunks of marzipan and white chocolate folded into the batter. It has the texture of shortbread: flaky, crumbly, and tender. The second version has marzipan mixed into the batter and dark chocolate folded in. It’s very soft but not necessarily chewy. I liked both alike so I’ll share both recipes with you.

white chocolate chunk marzipan cookies

White Chocolate Chunk Marzipan Cookies (makes 12-14 cookies)

112 g (1/2 cup) margarine
5 tablespoons raw sugar
5 drops vanilla essence (1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
25 g (3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) cornstarch mixed with
2 tablespoons water or soymilk
100 g (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
60 g (2.1 oz) marzipan, chopped
60 g (2.1 oz) white chocolate, chopped
Additional flour for shaping

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).

With a handheld mixer, beat together margarine and sugar until light and fluffy (2-4 minutes). Add vanilla essence and cornstarch mixture. Beat well to combine. Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat to combine. Fold in marzipan and white chocolate. Transfer dough to freezer for 10 minutes. Divide dough into equal portions. Lightly flour your hands and shape dough into balls. Place on baking sheet and don’t flatten, they will spread quite a bit. Bake for 12 minutes until set. Let cool on baking sheet for five minutes, transfer to cookie rack to cool completely.

dark chocolate chunk marzipan cookies

Dark Chocolate Chunk Marzipan Cookies (14-16 cookies)

112 g (1/2 cup) margarine
70 g ( 5 tablespoons) raw sugar
75 g (2.6 oz) marzipan, chopped
60 ml (1/4 cup) soy milk
5 drops vanilla essence (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
150 g all-purpose flour (1 cup + 1/4 cup)
25 g cornstarch (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
100 g (3.5 oz) semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).

With a handheld mixer, cream together margarine and sugar, until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add marzipan, soymilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. In a second bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add to margarine mixture and beat until well combined. Fold in chocolate. Divide dough into equal portions. Place on baking sheet and flatten the cookies as they won’t spread. Bake for 12 minutes until the edges start to brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to cookie rack to cool completely.