Since giving up dairy (and subsequently chocolate with milk in it!) a couple of years ago, I’ve become really good at searching out milk-free chocolates. This means that I’ve grown accustom to the taste of some very dark chocolate since those are the ones least likely to contain milk. I remember going on the hunt for a vegan white chocolate around the holidays last year, and the only thing I could find was a bag of super expensive (for me, this is anything over $5) white chocolate chips. Nope. Not worth the money. After all, white chocolate isn’t even really chocolate. It’s made with cocoa butter and contains no chocolate solids!

I’d recently been thinking of doing an “inside out” type of cookie – chocolate cookie dough with white chocolate chips – and totally lucked out when I found a bag of Nestle white chocolate chips without milk! Yes! This is in no way sponsored, but Nestle now has a line of allergen-friendly chocolate chips, including white chocolate morsels! A huge win for those of us avoiding dairy products! And I found them at my local Wal-Mart. A bit pricey, but totally exciting and worth it for a white chocolate splurge!

These cookies are basically a chocolate version of my favorite Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I simply added cocoa powder and tons of white chocolate chips to get that traditional “inside out” cookie. You’ll use melted butter and a bit of starch to up the chew factor of these cookies – I actually found them to be softer the day after baking them! Just be sure you don’t over bake these babies, which is easy to do. They will look under baked, but that’s when you want to take them out of the oven! Your white chocolate chips may even begin to brown a bit (as mine did) and then you’ll know it’s definitely time to take the cookies out!

Some of the ingredients I love for this recipe:

Melted vegan butter gives these cookies ultimate chewiness! We’re talking soft-the-next-day chewy, so don’t skip the melting step!

Coconut sugar is my go-to sweetener for most of my baked goods. It’s low GI, unrefined, and makes for a great replacement for regular granulated sugar. Don’t let the name fool you – it tastes nothing like coconut.

Brown sugar brings moisture to these cookies by adding that little bit of molasses that’s mixed into all brown sugars. Feel free to use light or dark brown sugar (dark has more molasses).

Arrowroot starch also helps to make these cookies chewy. If you have corn starch on hand, that will work, too!

Yield: 16 Cookies

Triple Chocolate Inside Out Cookies

Name: Triple Chocolate Inside Out Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 4 h
Yield: 16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup (1 stick) vegan butter, softened; 1/2 cup coconut sugar; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1 large egg, room temp; 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 cup + 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour; 6 Tbsp cocoa powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 2 tsp arrowroot (or corn) starch; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 cup dairy-free semisweet or dark chocolate chips; 1/2 cup dairy-free white chocolate chips

Sweet and chewy "inside out" chocolate cookies filled with both semisweet and white chocolate chips!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 3 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) vegan butter, softened
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg, room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp arrowroot (or corn) starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dairy-free semisweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dairy-free white chocolate chips

Instructions

Bring your egg to room temperature by placing it in a glass of warm water for around 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla extract; set aside.
In a large bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Then whisk in the baking soda, baking powder, arrowroot starch, and salt until flour and cocoa are well combined.
Add liquid ingredients to dry and gently mix using a large spatula or wooden spoon until a few flour streaks remaining. Combine the semisweet and white chocolate chips, and then stir 3/4 cup of the mixed chips into the dough. Set extra chips aside and cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough balls 2 Tbsp in size and then roll them smooth, making them a little taller than they are wide (see photos in this post) and placing them on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Using the remaining 1/4 cup of mixed chocolate chips, press extra chips into the tops and sides of the dough "balls", reshaping as necessary. Refrigerate dough balls for 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 325°F and line another baking sheet with parchment paper. Add 6 dough balls to your prepared baking sheet and bake at 325°F for 6-8 minutes or until cookies have spread and look a bit puffy - take them out when they still look a bit under baked.
Allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. If your cookies come out of the oven a little misshapen, you can gently (and carefully - they'll be hot!) use your fingers or a small spoon to press the edges in to make the cookies more round.
Continue baking the rest of the cookies, making sure you let your baking sheet(s) cool down to room temperature before adding the dough balls.
Store any cooled leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

Chilling the dough is super important for the right cookie shape and texture.
I haven't tried these cookies with any alternative ingredients (GF flour, regular butter, etc), so I can't vouch for how they would turn out
Feel free to mix up your chocolate chips, adding dark chocolate chips, chunks, or simply adding only white chocolate!