These Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft and chewy on inside, crisp around the edges and filled with bites of gooey dark chocolate and tart raspberries. They also happen to be vegan, but you would never guess they’re dairy and egg free! Simple ingredients and easy to make, I can tell you from experience, it’s very hard to stop at just one.

Ingredients in Vegan Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Vegan Butter: My go-to is always Earth Balance Buttery sticks. They’re great for baking, but feel free to use whatever brand you like. Dairy butter would also work too!
• Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: A little brown sugar ensures that these cookies end up nice and chewy on the inside while granulated sugar helps edges crisp up in the oven.
• Unsweetened Applesauce: These raspberry chocolate chip cookies do not contain egg. Instead, unsweetened applesauce is beaten in with the butter and sugar to help keep the cookies soft and moist on the inside. Bonus: you don’t have to worry about eating raw egg in the dough!
• All Purpose Flour: I haven’t tested this recipe with any other types of flour, so I wouldn’t recommend making any substitutions.
• Baking Soda: Cookies should be somewhat dense, but a bit of baking soda prevents them from turning cakey.
• Salt: An essential part of any chocolate chip cookie recipe, salt helps bring out all the delicious flavors in the dough. My brand of vegan butter is quite salty so if your brand of choice I s unsalted, I would recommend adding an extra pinch. A sprinkle of flaky salt right after the cookies come out of the oven is also highly recommended!
• Dark Chocolate Chips: I chose to use dark chocolate here because I think it does a nice job of balancing out the sweetness of cookie and tartness from the raspberries. A vegan semi-sweet chocolate would also work, but I would aim for 65-75% dark for best results.
• Freeze Dried Raspberries: Fresh or frozen raspberries have such a high moisture content, that they would make the cookies soggy in the oven. (Trust me, I know from experience) The solution? Freeze dried raspberries. They have all the delicious flavor and tartness of fresh raspberries and an extremely low water content so they bake up wonderfully!

How to Make Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’ll want to start by creaming the butter with the sugars. Both a hand mixer or stand mixer will work for this step. One key thing to remember, start with room temperature vegan butter. If your butter is too cold, it will become grainy and difficult to incorporate.

Once the butter and sugar mixture has whipped up, pour in the apple sauce and vanilla extract. Mix again then carefully measure and add the dry ingredients. At this point, I like to use a spatula to mix everything together. Be careful not to overwork the dough, this could result in toughness. Depending on the temperature of your butter, the dough may seem a little sticky, that’s ok.

Next, fold in the chocolate chips and freeze dried raspberries. A few turns is all you need, you don’t want to break up the raspberries too much. Now, this next step is important: chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. This is going to make it much easier to scoop and keep the cookies from overspreading in the oven.

When it’s time to bake, scoop the cookies on to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I made very large cookies, about 3 tbsp worth or dough for each. No need to press them down, just make sure you leave enough space for them to spread out while baking.

Because they’re so thick, these cookies do take a little longer to bake. You’ll know they’re done when the bottoms are golden brown and slightly crisp around the edges. They will continue to crisp up as they cool. And that’s it! Just make sure to cool the cookies on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before enjoying!

Tips for Making Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

• If you start mixing the butter and it turns grainy, it means it was too cold. Fix this by placing a couple spoonfuls in a bowl and microwaving until hot. Add it back in and continue beating. Keep in mind, that you may need to chill the cookies for slightly longer.
• Make sure to bake the cookies in the center of the oven. If your oven has a convection option, feel free to turn it on in the last few minutes of cooking for extra crispy tops.
• While they’re best eaten fresh, these raspberry chocolate chip cookies keep in the fridge for about 4-5 days when stored in an airtight container. They also freeze well and should keep for about 2 months.

More Recipes to Try:

• Orange apricot sticky buns
• Zucchini bread pancakes
• Salted Caramel Rice Krispie treats
• Orange scented oatmeal cookies with toasted pumpkin seeds

Made this recipe? Tag @wandering_chickpea on Instagram and follow along on Pinterest for more delicious recipes!