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To decide which chocolate to use for my project, I compared BeyondGood Chocolate and Guittard. Guittard chocolate chips are vegan and they are a fair trade company. The business is driven by sustainability goals and they strive for child protection in the cocoa industry and to preserve the environment. To compare these two chocolates, I made the original Nestle cookie dough recipe (linked here), and added chopped-up BeyondGood chocolate in half of it, and Guittard chocolate chips in the other half.
BeyondGood (left) and Guittard (right) pre-baked
BeyondGood (left) and Guittard (right) pre-baked
Post-baked
Post-baked
To get perspective on which chocolate was better for a cookie, I brought the cookies to friends and family and asked what they thought about the chocolate in each one. Here's what they said:
"Fruity" "Interesting" "More intense chocolate flavor"
"It's a little bit too bitter for my liking" - Isabelle P. '25
"It’s okay, kind of dark chocolately”
"The aftertaste is really dark"
"I usually prefer a semisweet chip" - Sasha Z. '25
"It balances out some of the sweetness of the cookie"
"Very strong" "Salty tang"
"Earthy, but too earthy to be in a cookie” - Arjun M. '25
"It has a creamy melt" "Chalky mouth feel"
"I would be happy if I got it at a buffet or a birthday party" - Billy K.
"This has an interesting nutty flavor" - Veronica H. '25
"This one is more sweet, which I prefer for a chocolate chip cookie" - Caitlyn P. '25
Overall winner: Guittard!
As I was searching for sustainable cookie recipes, I came across a recipe by Erin McKenna, from the eponymous bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. I found her recipe for vegan chocolate chip cookies and made them. Instead of using all-purpose flour, I used white whole-wheat flour, and instead of cane sugar I used coconut sugar (just to try it out). As for the chocolate, I stuck with Guittard.
*Please ignore the cane sugar -- I did not use it!
Here's what people thought about the Erin McKenna cookies:
"Tastes so good" "A little bit too salty"
"Slightly bland flavor but great texture and chocolate"
"Nutty and soft"
"While the cookie was satisfactory compared to a normal vegan cookie, it lacked texture and flavor. The main flavor coming through was the coconut, not the chocolate or batter. It could be better if the cookies had a crisp edge and soft and chewy center" - Sasha Z '25
Considering that arrowroot acts as a thickener in pastries (similar to the way egg does), I figured that I would use less of it in my final recipe to make a more crispy cookie. Hearing that people wanted the dough slightly sweeter, I thought that for my final recipe I would opt for the more flavorful and sustainable sugar substitute; maple sugar. See the final recipe here!
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