My solution was to add some soymilk as a binder. But it was no solution! It sort of helped with the shaping issue…but the cookies came out so flat & chewy that they were only suitable for cookie sandwiches. (Mmmm… cookie smammiches). I got online to see what other VWAV readers had tried–and sure enough, many of them complained about the mysteriously crumbly dough. Even a friend in my vegan co-op dinner rotation, Suzanne, mentioned that she’d attempted the repair the weird recipe by adding soymilk.

Most recently I skipped the soymilk and, fingers crossed!, gingerly placed the misshapen lumps onto the cookie sheet. Guess what? They came out perfectly:

Here’s the deal. I, apparently among many, am an amateur cookie (& food science) enthusiast–and so I totally missed the fact that the VERY HIGH PROPORTION of fat (in the form of a quarter of a container of softened Earth Balance) would actually melt & meld the cookies together in the baking process, giving them a lovely shape & texture after ten minutes. Instead of exercising patience, I felt I had to “fix” the crumbly dough by adding soymilk. Don’t make the same mistake! Just Hulk SMASH your cookies & wait for the magic!

Thanks & credit go to “el-grimlock” at deviantart.com for the awesome base Hulk image.