Vegan Chocolate Chips Cookies

There is nothing more comforting than a chocolate cookie, the first bite will transport you back to childhood. They are simply irresistible when eaten straight out from the oven with the warm chocolate melting on your fingers. Dip the cookies in milk, tea, coffee, or even hot chocolate to live life at full.

This is one of my most beloved recipes. This cookie is vegan by chance, I experimented a lot over the years and my best batch happened to be the one without eggs. Oat milk will make the cookie extra moist, and the vegan ingredients will make it last longer than a regular cookie – if you are that disciplined!

Diet Season

With January, the diet season begins. In pure subversive spirit, I can’t think of a better way to start the year than eating a homemade chocolate cookie instead.

This month we will face so much pressure to eat less and stress more. While I believe food education is key and what we eat can have a real big impact on us and the planet, diets can be terribly toxic and lead us to think we are not enough.

This year, let’s be kind to ourselves, let’s embrace a food journey with love for ourselves from departure to arrival.

New Year New Me

The same logic can be applied to the famous new year resolutions. New objectives are loved before New Year’s Eve, pursued on the first week of January, postponed till September, forgotten till November, and finally hated in December.

New Year Resolutions can be a source of disappointment, anxiety, and self-hate.

Unless they are approached differently.

I do think most of the time we need a clear head and a clear goal to accomplish something.

We just never have to forget to add a pinch of rationality, a spoon of determination, and a generous amount of love.

We just don’t have to overdo it. Keep it simple.

Mind you, there are no straightforward recipes to accomplish something, it will all depends on our own willingness to keep going.

No straightforward recipe

I have done a lot of research on self-help and goal setting and practised over the last months and this year I’ll try to follow these steps to set my resolutions. Hope these guidelines will help you as well.

First, I’d like to start by picking one single thing that would make me a bit happier in the next year. I know it isn’t an easy choice. This is likely to be very abstract or extremely daunting, so we need to simplify it by breaking it down into more actions.

Second, let’s count our actions, are these too many? Try not to go over five, keep it focused. What would have a real impact? What is our priority?

Third, we need to be patient and go through our actions again, are they measurable? Would we be able to understand whether we are on the right path? Will we know when they are completed? Can we accomplish them in the time we are giving to ourselves?

Fourth, do we have the leading role in these actions? Are we the ones responsible to accomplish these actions? Try to focus on things you can control, rather than things you could blame on bad luck if tough times occur.

Fifth, we got to write these actions down. Don’t keep them on your wallet, in a pocket or in the notes of your phone. Keep them somewhere visible. Fridge, bedside table, bathroom’s mirror are just a few ideas.

Sixth, we must check in with ourselves throughout the year. If we didn’t get an action done, if we didn’t even start, let’s not complain, let’s not do self-pity, let’s not argue with ourselves or others. Instead, we need to take a step back, why did this happen? What prevented us from doing this action? Do we need to do something differently?

It’s important to check in because life can also be unpredictable and something we valued in January can feel meaningless in July or we might discover a new source of happiness as the year goes by. Let’s not duel over this, we can change our plan, start again. After all the calendar year is just an excuse to start off, any day is a good day.

Here we go, that’s it.

I can’t stress enough though that you shouldn’t stress about this.

No one must set intentions at the beginning of a new year: do it when it’s best for you, don’t do it if you don’t feel like it. Again, be kind.

Remember: the secret of excellent cookies is to let the dough rest overnight. This will give the ingredients enough time to acquaint with each other and boost the final flavour.

It’s not a chance this is the best new year recipe. Don’t threat, don’t rush this year. If you feel overwhelmed by all these expectations, if you are undecided in your goals, let them rest overnight. The morning after your mind will be clearer, your thoughts will be lighter.

I am so impressed if you read this whole post…it’s a long one I know.

I wish you all a wonderful new year, I hope it’s a good one. May our wishes come true, may we be kind to ourselves.