Whole Food Plant Based Oatmeal Cookies

By Jennifer Provenza at Good Food From The Heart

Whole food plant based, Oil Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free

These whole food plant based oatmeal cookies are totally decadent and loaded with chocolate, yet free of oil, sugar, and gluten. Serve with a big glass of plant based milk!

Lazy Summer Days

We are really enjoying spending time together and relaxing at home this summer and playing with our sweet puppy, Coco. We haven’t done much this week, except take the kids to swim lessons and have a barbeque with Ian’s parents and his brother, in from Seattle. The next two weeks, our kids get to do summer camp. (Robot building camp, anyone?) Sounds awesome, right? And then, we have one last quick summer trip planned. This one will be a camping trip and one thing (besides S’mores) that I always bring when we go camping is cookies! Each day that we camp, we like to bring a picnic lunch on our hike or lake visit and I feel like a picnic is so much more festive and delicious with homemade cookies! One of our family favorites is whole food plant based oatmeal cinnamon chocolate chip cookies. My grandma used to make a version as one of her Christmas cookies and I always loved them. These ones, though? You won’t need to wait for Christmas because they are healthy enough to eat for breakfast. In fact, I give these to my six year old as a healthy snack or breakfast because getting whole grains and protein in that kid is practically impossible!

These vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are not only dairy free, oil free, gluten free, and sugar free, but they are packed with whole grains from the oatmeal and protein from the almond butter. But even better, they taste like a truly delicious cookie that even kids will love! Try taking them on your next camping trip. Or, on a cold winter day, settle in with a cup of tea or coffee, a journal or a book. They also make a great after school snack to eat while doing homework. I hope your family loves these cookies as much as mine does.

Ingredients

Oats and Oat Flour: You can use either regular rolled oats for this recipe, or certified gluten free oats if necessary for you. To make the oat flour, just blend the half of the oats called for in the recipe in a high speed blender or a food processor. Don’t use steel cut oats, as you will not get the correct consistancy. Alternatively, you could buy oat flour, but I’ve had issues with the store bought oat flour having a bitter flavor and it’s easy and quick to make your own!

Liquid Stevia or Coconut Sugar: As usual, I give you a totally calorie free version made with liquid stevia and a refined sugar free version made with coconut sugar. Use whichever sweetener you prefer. If using liquid stevia, mix it into the wet ingredients. If using coconut sugar, mix it into the dry ingredients. Either way, the cookies will come great!

Unsweetened Plant Milk: Use any kind you like, but I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Unsweetened Almond Butter: The almond butter replaces the butter in this recipe and gives you lots of protein instead of empty calories.

Vanilla: I love to use bourbon vanilla extract.

Cinnamon: The cinnamon really adds some sweetness and flavor to these cookies, so don’t skip it!

Chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, or raisins: I love using chocolate chunks or large chocolate chips to really give it that blast of chocolate flavor, but regular chocolate chips are fine too. Be sure to use dark chocolate with no dairy added. I also love using chocolate sweetened with stevia to keep it sugar free. There are also some brands that use unrefined sugar, so look around and see what you can find. Alternatively, these taste great made with raisins.

How To Make These Whole Food Plant Based Oatmeal Cookies

These whole food plant based cinnamon oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are so easy and quick to make! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, start by making your oat flour. Take one cup of the oats and blend them into a flour consistancy either in a high speed blender or in a food processor. Next, mix the oat flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking soda together in a large mixing bowl. If you are using coconut sugar, add it now too. Mix it all together and then take out a small bowl for your wet ingredients.

To the small bowl, add the almond butter. If it is very solid, you may need to heat it a bit in the microwave or in a small pot on the stovetop until it is more runny and mixable. Add the plant milk and vanilla and stir. If you are using liquid stevia, add that now too.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Finally, fold in the chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, or raisins.

Put a sheet of parchment paper over your baking sheet and use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to form the batter into cookies on the sheet. You may need to flatten them a bit with your fingers. This recipe will either make 12 small or 6 large cookies. I prefer to make mine large, but you do you. You can definitely also double the recipe and make 12 large cookies. I mean, why not? Bake for 8-10 minutes. If you’ve made the cookies small, definitely check them at 8 minutes or even a bit sooner. The large ones take 10 minutes for me.

Cool on the pan for five minutes and then transfer to a cookie rack. Store in an airtight container. These also freeze well. These cookies are delicious served with a tall glass of cold vanilla almond milk or with some coffee or tea. They also work well in my Plant Based Banana Pudding recipe. (Just omit the chocolate chips or raisins and add an extra 1/4 cup coconut sugar).

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