- I'm not a baker, I'm a lover.
How do you pull off a vegan chocolate chip cookie
that's gonna be as good?
The vegan world of baking is mine now!
- What's up, everybody?
It's your girl, Merle.
Today, I'm gonna be bringing
my dear friend Aria onto the show,
he has a huge sweet tooth.
Specifically, he loves chocolate chip cookies,
so today, I'm gonna go get him
and we're gonna go and find
the best vegan chocolate chip cookie that LA has to offer.
And then I'm gonna bring 'im back to the kitchen
and we're gonna make our own homemade version.
So, I'm hoping that I can prove to him
that there is a vegan cookie out there in this universe
that is just as good, if not better,
than the one that he knows and loves.
So, let's go wrangle Aria.
How are you doing today?
- I'm doing great, I'm a little skeptical today.
- I haven't told you what we're doing yet.
- Oh, great.
- You're just skeptical in general of me.
You have a huge sweet tooth, this I know about you.
- Yes, I do love sweets.
I've always loved sweets,
ever since I was a little boy.
I love cookies, I love doughnuts--
- You love Boba.
- I love croissants, I love Boba.
Earlier this year, I did train for a video,
I did an MMA fight.
You were there-- - I remember.
- [Aria] You saw me shirtless.
- [Merle] I saw you get choked out.
- That body was achieved by avoiding processed sugar
for a long time.
- So that was the hardest part?
- I think having a man's arm wrapped around my neck
was the hardest part, but yeah.
I did miss sweets. - Okay.
- And I didn't have cookies for four months.
- And chocolate chip specifically are--
Oh, thank you.
You love chocolate chip cookies.
- I love chocolate chip cookies.
One of my favorite places to get a cookie
is actually here in LA,
it's a place called Diddy Riese,
which has, I think, probably the best cookies
I've actually ever had.
And I think what I love about cookies
really is reflected in the cookies they make.
When they're perfectly moist,
they're soft, they're tender,
they're like little nuggets of--
(record scratch) - I don't like the word choice
you have for any of these descriptions.
- I do.
- Nuggets and moist?
It's disgusting.
- And then, just when you're starting
to really enjoy the cookie itself, oh, oh!
A little delectable surprise
in a little bit of chocolate chip.
(snorts) It's like an extra
little gooey treat!
And sometimes, when I eat a chocolate chip cookie,
I close my eyes, so I don't even know
where the chocolate chip is coming from, like--
- You sit and close your eyes
while you're eating chocolate chip cookies?
Wow.
But bottom line is you know how I'm vegan.
- Are you?
- I am, yeah.
I've tried to get you to dabble a little bit
here and there in vegan food, right?
- Yes, yes, you certainly have.
- Yeah.
- I am very open-minded with the things I eat,
but a chocolate chip cookie seems tough to me.
How do you pull off a vegan chocolate chip cookie
that's gonna be as good as a Diddy Riese cookie?
- So, you don't think that I can find
a vegan chocolate chip cookie
that's gonna make you like it as much as?
- No, I just think it'll be a challenge for you.
- [Merle] Rachel, do you feel like
we can veganize this for him, so he's gonna actually?
- I think that baked goods are one
of the easiest things to veganize.
- I agree. - Really?
- Well, I'm not intimidated.
So I'm gonna take you first to an all-vegan bakery.
And we're gonna find a cookie
that's as good as what you just described.
- Vegan bakery?
- All vegan.
It's good to expand your culinary horizons.
- You know, I'll do anything for you.
- Oh, wow.
(laughing)
- That took a sharp turn, eh?
- Great.
Good to know.
Why did you decide to open an all-vegan bakery?
- I had multiple food allergies back in the early 2000s,
like gluten, soy, dairy.
My main mission at the bakery
is to create a place where everyone can go.
They don't have to worry about reading labels,
and they can just have a fun experience
and then be surprised by it later.
- You think the chocolate chip cookie's
one of your best selling items?
- Yes.
I can are so much about this recipe
because my mom was a chocolate chip cookie maker.
And all of us were growing up,
we were very competitive about our version.
So I knew what a perfect chocolate chip cookie tasted like,
and so I knew I needed to give it everything,
and I needed this recipe to be perfect before I shared it.
- How do you make a chocolate chip cookie vegan?
- The way that I make it is with coconut oil,
and I'm sure you're aware that
a traditional cookie starts with butter,
and the thing that I love about coconut oil
is it hardens, so when it comes below room temperature.
And so it has that sort of shortbready texture
when you bake it.
I use fruit purees instead of eggs,
a bit of arrowroot to make it chewy,
and a garbanzo fava beam flour.
The batter can't be too sweet
because the chocolate chips
really need to be the diva in it.
- I like that, it's true. (laughs)
- And yeah, and has to be a nice balance.
A lot of people think that you need eggs
or butter or milk chocolate to make delicious baked goods,
but there are so many alternatives
that are easy to swap in.
And you're never gonna really notice the difference.
And when they come out, it's crispy on the edges,
chewiness in the center,
and within three minutes, it's perfect time to eat it.
- Yay!
- Oh my God. - Oh my gosh!
- I didn't expect so many.
- They smell.
This moment is getting a little more intimate
than I'd like to see, so maybe we--
- Don't be jealous of the cookies.
- Oh my.
I really wanna swear right now.
- I don't care, (bleep) it.
This is amazing.
- So good!
- They're crispy on the outside,
but it's like chewy and moist in the middle.
When it came over, I was like,
okay, it looks like a cookie, will it taste like one?
I was still on the fence before I took the bite out of one.
Now it tastes fantastic.
This is way better than I thought it was gonna be.
This is a problem for me, though,
because I don't live in a very vegan friendly part of town.
There's no Erin McKenna's near me.
- You're right, you're totally right, it's a great point.
So that's why I'm gonna take you back to the kitchen
and what I'm gonna show you,
we're gonna make our own really good
vegan chocolate chip cookie.
So that way, if you can't make a trip out
to this incredible bakery,
you can make it at home.
You can make some for me!
- You just wanna spend some quality time with me.
And then you can come over,
I'll make some cookies for you.
- Yeah, that's why.
Okay, so we got back from the bakery.
- Is yours gonna be better than Erin McKenna's?
Probably we don't know.
And then secondly, the fact that you want me to make it,
I'm fairly sure these cookies
are definitely not gonna be as good as Erin McKenna's.
I'm not a baker, I'm a lover.
- The only time I've seen Aria try to bake,
he killed the yeast immediately.
We tried to make vegan cinnamon rolls,
he stirred it, killed the yeast, never rose.
- [Aria] It was still very tasty.
- But today, I won't allow you to (bleep) this up.
(laughing) - Oh my lord.
- Don't get jealous, I'm very good friends with Alvin.
- Ah, Alvin Zhou.
- Yeah, he's a Tasty producer. - Yes.
- I love Alvin. - Making It Big.
- [Merle] Making It Big always.
- [Aria] He makes big things.
- [Merle] I know.
- It's a show on Tasty.
- I know! - Oh.
- I used to be a producer on Tasty.
He is the master of chocolate chip cookies,
I gotta give it to him, the man,
it's almost weird how much he likes chocolate chip cookies.
So, the secret to his success is browned butter.
We can't do that today, 'cause it's vegan, right?
We're making vegan--
- Oh yeah, 'cause butter's from a cow's teat.
- Correct, so instead, what we're gonna be doing today
is we're gonna be using pecans.
- Ahh, I hate pecans.
- No, no.
I'm gonna let you do the honors.
Very important that we do not burn these nuts,
so keep your eyes on the prize here, okay?
Butter has milk solids in it,
obviously, oil does not.
These nuts are gonna bring like a nice nutty flavor
that you might be getting from butter if it's browned.
Here, give 'em a little shake.
(yips)
Ooh, it smells good!
- Oh, it does smell nice.
- Okay, we're using coconut oil.
Good job.
Feel like I'm cooking with my nephew.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- [Merle] We wanna infuse the oil with the nutty flavor.
- Oh, I can sorta smell that for sure.
- Wow, look at that!
It's gettin' very brown.
- [Aria] Very toasty, very nutty.
- When it looks like this,
we can take it off the heat.
We're gonna strain it now.
Okay, so gimme that.
One thought ahead and we have a cooled down version
of our nutty oil here. - That's smart.
- You're gonna strain the nuts out of the oil.
- [Aria] So there's no nuts in my butter.
- That's right. - That makes sense.
- [Merle] That's right.
(groans)
- Don't let these, oh--
(laughing)
- You're trying to, this is a oil,
it's gonna stain my shoe!
That's good enough. - Okay.
But what about these leftover pecans?
This is a waste.
- Folks of the internet,
don't waste things.
Instead, you could toss these over a salad.
If you want to, you can put them straight
into the cookie batter.
- Oh, don't do that.
- But we want a traditional chocolate chip cookie
on this show, so we're not gonna let the nuts
get into the mix.
(thumping) Okay!
- We're getting closer and closer to the cookie!
- We got the "brown butter,"
and we have some brown sugar,
some granulated sugar,
some nondairy milk.
There are many, many ways you can substitute eggs in baking.
For instance, Erin McKenna uses a fruit puree,
you can use bananas, you can make a flax egg,
What's really cool is that all you really need
for this recipe is the nondairy milk.
You need to recreate the liquid
that you would get from an egg.
- I'm a biker!
(laughing)
- Five-year-old man.
You have done a tremendous job, honestly.
This is great.
Now what we're gonna do
is we're gonna microwave this.
We wanna break the sugars down,
they're gonna melt into more of a liquid.
So we microwaved this,
now you see the sugars have melted down,
we have this nice liquidy consistency.
And what that's gonna do is just give us a smoother batter.
All right, so this is good to go.
Now what you're gonna do
is you're gonna combine our dry ingredients.
- Ah, this is flour. - Flour,
yeah, you nailed it.
Baking soda, and some salt.
Right, set that right in there.
- [Aria] Oh, wow.
- It's like snow.
The first snow.
Can you please just do this?
Now you get to mix this together.
- Now my only other concern is that
when I usually eat these cookies,
I usually have a little glass of milk with it,
but if we're going all vegan--
- There are so many nondairy milks out there on the market.
- I've actually tried a couple of these.
No, no, no, no, it's a little too runny.
A little too runny for me.
- Runny?
- I like a little cream.
I want it thick. - Okay. (laughs)
- Yes, yes.
- I understand--
- Oh, I know you do.
- I, oh my God!
Aria.
I hear your concerns.
If you make a homemade nondairy milk,
it can be a lot creamier.
So it's more than possible.
All right, you've done a lovely job here.
Now it's time to add the chocolate.
We got some dark chocolate.
I would say splurge a little on the dark chocolate,
get some good chocolate.
I mean, in my opinion,
it's the most important part of the cookie.
- $10, perhaps.
- (laughs) Sure, maybe.
- Oh, that's confusing.
Does the chocolate have milk in it?
- Those are semisweet chunks, okay?
Yes, a lot of semisweet chocolate does have milk in it,
but if you check the label, some of them don't,
so just don't check. - That's wonderful.
- And you can find some that is vegan.
Okay, you've done a great job.
Now we're gonna scoop our dough.
- Okay. - This part's fun.
- Great.
- If you want more cookies,
you can just have a smaller scoop
and then you can have a whole family down here.
Now, it's time for Vegan Trivia!
A 2016 Oxford University study found,
if everybody adopted a vegan diet,
food-related emissions would go down
by what percentage by 2050?
- Let's go with 45%. (buzzer)
- 70.
- 70?
That's rough.
- I think it's just important to know these things
because you don't have to go vegan 100%.
Replace your favorite recipe, make it vegan,
and you're doing like a little bit of good.
- Well, I guess that just means I'll have to come over more
and make you more vegan food or vice versa.
- Is that the takeaway from that harrowing study?
- You know, we gotta do what we can.
- One-track mind.
So, now we're gonna chill these for like 60 minutes,
so that the flavors can kind of like come together.
And then we're just gonna bake 'em all for 15 minutes.
- Cookies, cookies, cookies! (thumping)
- Look at these cookies!
(squealing) (laughing)
- That noise, even calm.
- Don't they look good? - These look so good,
look how gooey they look. - I know.
I know I give you a hard time.
But I've got a little soft spot for you.
Since you said you like to have your cookies with milk,
I've been hiding these under there for a little while.
But they're fresh, they're fresh.
I made you a homemade cashew milk
'cause you like milk with your cookies.
- That's so sweet.
Here's to you.
- Okay.
Sure, and veganism.
- Yes, and Oxford University.
- Yep.
(laughs)
- Oh, wow.
- [Merle] Yummy!
- That's really nice.
- [Merle] It's good, it's sweet.
- It's creamy!
- [Merle] Now I think it's time
for you to try one of these cookies.
- So, I guess we should share it, probably, right?
So I'll give give you a little--
(snorts)
- You kidding me?
- (laughs) 'Kay, ready? (romantic saxophone music)
Oh my God!
(laughs)
That's amazing.
It's crunchy on the outside,
it's like the inside's so gooey and moist,
and we know how much I want things to be moist.
- Weird.
- It's weird, you know,
I don't normally like pecans.
But like, A, I don't taste the pecans,
but almost, I don't know if it's some sort
of placebo effect, but having known the process
we made it in, I feel like sort of like
a nutty, buttery taste.
- Oh, (bleep)!
(laughs) Oops.
And when this happens 'cause, you know what?
It's even better.
You can't have too much cashew--
Cashew. (laughs)
Oh no.
Whose world is it? (thumps)
- This is my world!
The vegan world of baking is mine now!
- It's the moment of truth! (triumphant fanfare)
♪ It's the moment of truth ♪
- [Merle] We've got your Diddy Riese cookie.
- Ah, Diddy.
- We've got the Erin McKenna cookie from earlier.
And then we've got our cookie, my cookie,
the homemade one. - Aww.
I have an attachment to these two, I won't lie.
This because we made it together.
It's very sweet.
And this one, Diddy Riese is special to me.
- [Merle] That's right.
You have a relationship with that cookie.
- This is definitely the standard I've set
when it comes to a good--
- So that's like a 10 for a cookie for you.
Okay, good to know.
- Then we have, of course, Erin McKenna's cookie.
We had earlier, loved it-- - Really good.
- [Aria] I kept eating 'em.
- You, I don't wanna, I don't even know if I can expose
how many of these you ate earlier.
- Even the camera stopped rolling,
I couldn't stop eating them, they were great.
Just so chewy.
And it has like a much crispier texture than this,
this one's very doughy, almost.
Where this one has like that crispy exterior,
it's like flaky.
- [Merle] For some people, that's like the best part.
It's like the whole cookie is kinda
like the edge of the cookie.
So that's a choice.
- Yeah, and then of course, we have this, this beauty.
The Merlia cookie.
(snorts) You know.
- Merlia. - I mean--
- [Merle] It's so pretty!
- It is so pretty, just like you.
- Oh my.
You're gonna have to pretend like not gonna just eat more.
It's, I'm, it's just, I'm not gonna say anymore.
- Gonna have a (bleep)ing laugh were that cookie.
You're having a laugh with how good that is.
Whoo!
- Oh my God.
You're full of surprises at all times.
- Yeah, their Erin McKenna one is great.
I will say, though, that the fact that it's a little,
it's not near me, it's a bit of a,
I don't really go to that part of town.
- Not everybody has vegan bakeries available to them.
- Exactly.
Whereas on the other hand, you know,
the Merlia cookie, I mean, it was quick to make,
and it used very simple ingredients.
- [Merle] And you don't have
any baking experience, really, right?
- Yeah. - And it was pretty easy.
- Very easy. - Anybody could do it.
- All right, let's move on straight.
- 'Kay.
- I'm gonna compare these two, obviously,
'cause this is just the gold standard,
this is a 10.
Erin McKenna's, great cookie,
I'd give it a solid 7.75 out of 10.
- Oh, that's very specific.
- The Merlia cookie, honestly,
I am being completely honest.
- Please.
- I'm gonna get, like, this is truly,
this is a 10.56.
- No, really?
- 10.56. (capping)
It's, I can't, I, honestly, it's flawless to me.
Vegan or not, this is just a fantastic cookie all around.
It's moist, but it's still crispy on the outside.
- [Merle] You're a mess.
- An obscene amount of chocolate, which is what I love.
If you just give this to people,
I would absolutely not think it's vegan at all.
- Really?
- Absolutely not, I think it's just a great homemade cookie.
- That is honestly my goal.
'Cause I want people to feel like
they don't have to miss out on their favorite things
just because they maybe wanna go a little more plant-based.
- And you know what?
The fact that this is a tiny little bit of good
towards helping the world, you know what?
Justifies it in my head,
and so I'm just gonna keep eating these
for the rest of the day.
'Cause I'm helping the planet!
- Aria, I have to ask.
- Yes?
- Are you sure you're not just picking my cookie
'cause you have a crush on me?
- Even if I did,
I would absolutely still be picking this cookie
because I'm a supportive coworker.
- No!
It's a good cookie.
- It's a fantastic cookie.
- And also, you do have a crush on me.
- I mean, I don't know, though,
you're the one that wrangled for an entire day
to spend time "making cookies" with you.
- No!
- You keep just finding more excuses
to be next to me on camera.
I get it, I get it.
Just so you know, nothing's gonna happen.
On camera.
(snorts)
- Thank you for spending the day with me,
this was quite a treat,
as one might say.
- A real treat.
- Please let me know in the comments below
who you'd like me to invite on to veganize something for,
or just let me know what you want me to veganize
and I'll find someone who loves that thing.
- She's just secretly hoping
that you guys want me back again
so you can spend more time-- - No!
- Making more things with me, I get it.
Hey, hey, I'm busy.
I can't always be here.
- Get outta here.
We have fun.
- It's a good time.
- No, and cookies.
Okay.
- [Aria] You might get yourself a kiss after this.
- [Merle] Oh my God!
- [Aria] She's blushing now.
- [Merle] No, I'm not.
- [Aria] She's excited.
- [Merle] No, I'm not.
- [Aria] She's not getting one.
Inappropriate, we're coworkers!
- [Merle] Oh my God, yeah.
I'm gonna die.
(laughing)
(warm rock music)