by Brie I love to bake with the kids. Well, they love to bake and I like that they are happy and occupied. I don't really like the mess but that is the trade-off for some happy moments stirring bowls of flour and eating chocolate chips when they think I am not looking.

Last week I was looking for a recipe to make with the girl and stumbled upon a great recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks. Vegan Lunch Box. While I still have two years before I will be making school lunches, I was looking for any kid friendly food ideas when I bought this book. I also like to flirt with veganism, which is never going to happen in our house because the husband refuses to give up cheese, so I was happy with the great ideas offered in this book. I have made a number of the recipes and I have always been really happy. The Fluffy White Cupcakes (p.249) is a favorite.

I had never made the Back-to-school chocolate chip cookies before but I was excited to try the recipe. Chocolate chip cookies are always good. And this recipe uses both whole wheat floor and silken tofu so I was feeling slightly smug. Yummy and healthy.

The cookies are easy to make and very good. Plus if you eat two at once that's okay! They have tofu! And the kids won't even know. When I brought these cookies to a weekly Kids in the Capital play date Sara's son was chowing down on them. Since he is a picky eater she was thrilled to hear about the tofu. And of course her son was thrilled when she let him have a second one.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. The recipe makes about 4 dozen.

Mix together 2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 teaspoons baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Mix together 1 cup room temperature margarine, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 sugar, 3/4 soft silken tofu (drained) and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat with a hand blender until light and fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients to wet. Stir in the chocolate chips. Place small balls of dough on the cookie tray, about 3 inches apart. Cook for about 12 minutes.

Eat!

When I made the recipe I didn't have any margarine, so I substituted 3/4 cup of vegetable oil. They still tasted great. Next time I am going to try increasing the amount of tofu. Maybe 1 cup or even 1 and a 1/4 cups.

The author of Vegan Lunch Box also has a blog, which is how I first discovered the cookbook. Some of the recipes from the book and newer recipes she has created can be found there.

Do you have any sneaky snack secrets? Don't keep them to yourself! Please share!

Brie is the mom of an almost 4 year old daughter “the girl” and twenty-two month old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.