Soft Chocolate Chip Agave Cookies (egg free, sugar free)
My first attempt in using agave nectar..
I took a couple of recipes and kind of put them together, altering them based on amount of dry and wet ingredients. I wrote down my own recipe before hand, based on research. I replaced the sugar, decreased some of the other ingredients to what I thought would work well, and also replaced the egg. While mixing the batter, I gradually added more dry ingredients and more of other ingredients in order to give what I thought it needed for moisture, bonding/helping replace the egg, and I wrote down things as I went and crossed things out, to keep track of what I did. But, I figured ... this is definitely going to be a first run, there is no way these cookies are going to turn out and I should be okay with that. I expected them to taste awful.. and I'd have to go through many tries to come up with the right taste, or to get them to rise correctly... But.. They actually turned out pretty well. I think my research before hand and knowledge really helped me completely come up with a recipe that actually worked.
I first tried them while they were warm and my impression at first was, "OH THESE ARE VERY BLAH AND NOT SWEET AT ALL. NO FLAVOR!" But once they cooled, they actually tasted like normal chocolate chip cookies, pretty darn good! They were maybe a bit too cakey for my liking, and I'd like to see if I can make them a bit chewier.. and maybe a bit more flavor to them. But they turned out surprisingly well.. and even look perfect. They maybe look a bit TOO perfect. They look like processed, store bought cookies... too round and not chewy looking.. which I don't find amazingly pleasing. But I am pretty satisfied with the results so far. Pretty tasty.
The agave gives a bit of a different taste though, kind of a nutty, maple-ish taste. My friend Brett, someone who can normally have egg and normal ingredients, said they were very good. I'm thinking a double chocolate cookie or even brownies would be good with agave nectar, that way the chocolate would cover up the nutty taste... I want to try Brown Rice Syrup as an ingredient to experiment with next. I'm thinking that I would maybe like that better, for I'm not one for a nutty flavor. I'm analyzing too much! Overall, these were great! But I have an attitude where I always think things can be better. My mom always tries to tell me to stop trying to be perfect. . but.. well I like to try to perfect things. And if I like to do it, then so what!
