I Ran Out of Eggs Egg-Free Cookies

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 tries to eat on $6/day while purchasing more chocolate chips than they should.

Once upon a time, I worked in a high school with disabled teens. It was a life skills class, which meant we taught them...wait for it...life skills. Things like cooking, taking the bus, shopping, practicing social skills. Many a day we helped them prepare a lunch for themselves. One day we were making cookies, only to discover that the shopping crew had dropped the ball, as there were no eggs on hand. The head teacher (I was an aide) fished around in the refrigerator and pulled out some mayonnaise. She plopped some into the batter, and odd though it may seem, all was again right in cookiedom, and we all lived happily ever after.

I don't know about you, but the shopping crew in this house still drops the ball fairly regularly, and sometimes finds herself with no eggs (or any of a number of other essential items) on hand.

Such was the case Sunday afternoon. I'd planned a light summery Sunday treat. But it was cold outside. We even lit the woodburner. And snuggled into blankets on the couch. And wanted cookies. But there were no eggs. Enter Mrs. Amey and our lovely life skills class.

Turned off by the idea of mayo in your cookies? Don't be. Mayonnaise is mostly egg and oil. It makes a great egg substitute, though you will want to reduce or omit any other salt in the recipe.

Generally speaking you'll use about 3-4 Tbsp mayonnaise per egg you don't have.

Not a believer? Make these cookies and, my friends, you will be. They are almost evilly good. They are well worth making whether you have eggs or not. The texture is somewhat different than cookies with egg. They have a sugary outer crunch that was, in my humble opinion, totally amazing. And, are you ready for your bonus buy: You can eat all the dough you want without worrying even a teeny tiny bit about salmonella (unless of course, you leave the batter out on the counter all day, which I do not recommend). Because of this, this is also the perfect batter to use if you're making homemade ice cream with cookie dough. But we'll go there after it warms up again.

Now, if you are vegan or have an allergy to eggs and that's why you're looking for a recipe with no eggs, I fear that I am probably not helping. However, if you've got some mayo substitute you often use, there's a good chance it will work in this recipe too.

As a note: These cookies did not spread the way cookies normally do. In fact, at about 6 minutes of cooking time, I peeked into the oven to see that they were still round mounds of cookie. I smashed them down with a spatula and after 3 more minutes in the oven, they were perfect. Per-fect.

I Ran Out of Eggs Egg-Free Cookies
Makes: 18 cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 9 minutes per batch
Cost: $1.05 without chocolate stuff; $1.65 with chocolate stuff
(butter: .60, sugars: .30, mayo: .01, flour: .14, chocolate chips: .45, malt balls: .15 on after-Easter sale)

Note: You can make these plain or with chocolate chips or with chocolate chips and Robin's Eggs that you've been hiding in your freezer since Easter for just such a chilly spring day (so I guess these weren't exactly egg free). The malty Robin's Eggs were a really nice compliment to the Egg-Free cookie. In fact, Kip even said we should buy malt balls to use in for our next chocolate chip cookie bender (he did not use the word 'bender,' but that's just called denial).

1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C chocolate chips
1/2 C malt balls, roughly chopped

Cream butter and sugars. Add mayonnaise and mix well. Add vanilla. Sift flour and baking soda together. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and malt balls if using.

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Smash them down just a bit with a wooden spoon or spatula. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes or until just barely beginning to brown (for a cookie that is lovely and soft in the middle).

PRINTABLE RECIPE