Dairy Free and Soy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Life is too short to not eat cookies. But if you are avoiding dairy and soy for the low iodine diet or for allergy reasons, cookies can be hard to find.
This recipe makes dairy free and soy free chocolate chip cookies that taste the same as regular cookies. I took these to a large church gathering, and not one person out of over 50 who ate them noticed a difference!
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What You’ll Need
You need a few substitutions besides the traditional flour, sugar, salt, baking soda.
- Dairy free and soy free butter substitute. In this recipe, I used Earth Balance Buttery Spread. You can use any soy free vegan margarine (with low iodine salt) or coconut oil. If you are on the low iodine diet, you can use vegetable shortening as well, which has soybean oil, which is allowed.
- Dairy free and soy free chocolate chips. Nestle Toll-House Simply Delicious Chips and Enjoy Life are good options for allergen friendly chocolate chips.
- Egg whites (optional). Not necessary to be free of dairy and soy, but to be low iodine friendly, you need to use all egg whites instead of whole eggs. I use two egg whites per whole egg. If you are using liquid egg whites, it is ¼ cup per whole egg in the recipe.
How to Make
Some equipment I recommend:
- Stand mixer. This is a large batch of cookies (7 dozen), so it would be difficult to mix by hand or hand electric mixer. Even a regular KitchenAid mixer is very full.
- Cookie scoop. This makes life so much simpler.
- Parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
- Good cookie or baking sheets. If you find your cookies burning or cooking unevenly, you may have old or poor quality baking sheets.
This recipe follows the standard cookie procedure:
- Cream butter and sugars.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Mix.
- Add dry ingredients. Mix until mostly combined.
- Add chocolate chips. Stir to just distribute throughout the dough.
A couple notes:
- This dough is a little softer than standard chocolate chip cookie dough. However, you do not NEED to refrigerate it. They bake up just fine.
- Don’t overmix the dough. If you mix it for a long time after the flour is combined, it is like when you knead bread dough. The cookies will get tough.
Variations
- White chocolate cranberry: Substitute 1 bag of allergen free white chocolate chips and 1 cup dried cranberries for the chocolate chips.
- Dark chocolate walnut: Use 1 bag of allergen free dark chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped, toasted walnut instead of listed chocolate chips.
How to Store and Reheat
Make sure to cool your cookies completely before stacking and storing.
Since this makes a lot of cookies, I like to put half in a cookie jar or air-tight container. They’ll keep for up to 1 week staying soft. Then I put the other half in a sealed zipper bag in the freezer. I just let them thaw a bit as I eat them.
If you want to reheat a non-frozen cookie for a fresh out of the oven experience, microwave for 5-7 seconds.
If you want to reheat a frozen cookie, microwave for 8-12 seconds.
FAQ’s about Dairy Free and Soy Free Cookies
Do cookies have dairy?
Traditional cookies have dairy in the form of butter and chocolate chips.
Do cookies have soy?
Traditional chocolate chips generally have soy lecithin in them.
What can I substitute for butter that doesn’t have dairy or soy?
A vegan margarine without soy, such as Earth Balance Dairy and Soy Free Buttery Spread or coconut oil make good substitutes.
Can you eat cookies if you are lactose intolerant?
Whether you can enjoy cookies if you are lactose intolerant will depend on how sensitive you are. Most people with lactose intolerance are fine with baked goods and the minimal amount of dairy in chocolate chips.
Do chocolate chips contain dairy?
Most traditional chocolate products contain milk in the chocolate, including chocolate chips.
Are there dairy free cookie brands?
YES! If you aren’t interested in baking cookies, these cookies are dairy, egg, and iodized/sea salt free. They may have soybean oil or soy lecithin. Most people with soy allergy can tolerate soybean oil and/or soy lecithin, but consult with your physician.
- Nutter butter
- Oreo
- HoneyMaid Graham Crackers
- Barnum’s Animal Crackers
- Belvita (EXCEPT: protein varieties, oats and chocolate soft baked, vanilla or strawberry yogurt creme sandwiches)
- Biscos Sugar Wafers
- Enjoy Life Cookies
- Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
- Nabisco Ginger Snaps
- Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies
- Mallomars cookies
- Newtons Cookies
- Social Tea Biscuits
- Teddy Grahams
- Voortman Wafers (ONLY: vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, raspberry lemonade, tropical fruit)
Are there soy free cookie brands?
Of the cookies listed above, only Enjoy Life Cookies are also entirely soy free.
Other Dairy Free Treats You’ll Love
Dairy Free and Soy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup dairy free, soy free butter substitute Earth Balance spread
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 8 egg whites
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp non-iodized salt
- 5 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 packages allergen free chocolate chips 12 ounces each
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- Cream butter substitute with sugars until well combined and creamy.
- Add egg whites and vanilla. Mix to combine. Scrape bowl.
- Add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until only a few streaks of flour are visible.
- Add chocolate chips. Mix until just combined and thick dough is formed.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon size balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until beginning to brown and middle is set. Remove from oven. Cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes, then cool on cooling rack until room temperature.
- Store in a covered container or freeze.
