This week I had a request from a local customer who wanted to purchase vegan oatmeal cookies. He said that he has been looking for a vegan oatmeal cookie that would obtain the approval of his children.
The only specification was that they could not have chocolate chips which is normally how his kids prefer oatmeal raisin cookies.
Not wanting to crush his dreams and tell him I actually didn’t have a vegan oatmeal cookie recipe in my ‘baking holster’, I smiled and said, ‘Of course I can make you some oatmeal raisins cookies. No problem!’
I knew I had some work to do. *gulp.
Batch #1 was an excellent attempt, but not quite there yet.
Batch #2 had me hook, line, and sinker.
That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
The Ultimate Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Inspired by Salt Kissed Chunky PB Chocolate Chip Cookies & Vegetarian Times.
Ingredients:
- 1 & 3/4 cups walnuts, toasted
- 2 cups regular oats, divided
- 3/4 cup white Kamut flour (other flours probably work!)
- 1/2 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 3.5 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup raisins
Directions: Preheat oven to 350F and grease a baking sheet. Place 1.75 cups of walnuts on the baking sheet. Toast walnuts in oven for about 10-12 minutes, until golden in colour. Watch carefully so as not to burn. When walnuts are toasted remove from oven and cool for a few minutes. Dump walnuts into food processor and process until just finely ground, no more. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, 1 cup oats, cinnamon, and Sucanat (or brown sugar). Now add the dry ingredients to the food processor and process for about 20-30 seconds until mixed. In a small bowl add the coconut oil and microwave for 20 seconds to soften (if necessary). In the same bowl, stir in the maple syrup, almond milk, and vanilla, and pour into food processor. Process until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Remove bowl from processor and dump contents into a large bowl. Mix in the remaining 1 cup of oats by stirring or with hands. Fold in the 2/3 cup of raisins. Take about 2 tbsp of dough, make a ball, and then flatten with fingers. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F and no longer. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before placing onto a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes. Makes about 16 large cookies.
This was my first time baking with Kamut flour!
Kamut (pronounced ka-moot) is an ancient whole grain cultivated by the Egyptians in 8,000 B.C.
Like spelt, it may be a healthy alternative for people who are sensitive to wheat products. The benefit of Kamut over spelt flour is that Kamut is much lighter than spelt and won’t weigh the baked goods down. I have been excited to try it out ever since my friend Heather told me about it!
I bought some white Kamut flour and some whole grain Kamut flour. I started with the white Kamut flour first to ‘test the waters’.
After grinding the toasted walnuts and then processing with the dry ingredients…
Next, I processed in the wet ingredients and then folded in the oats and raisins…
=> the most delicious & rich & buttery cookie dough in the world.
Baking for just 10 minutes (not a second longer!) at 350F.
Damn.
The result was the most delicious oatmeal raisin cookie I think I have ever tasted. The toasted walnuts were magnificent and I am so glad I toasted them. The recipe is slightly ‘fussy’ but well worth the effort and it still didn’t take longer than about 35-40 minutes or so.
I have a feeling my customer’s kids will love these cookies.
Eric was silent for a while as he ate one and his eyes went into a far off daze. After snapping him out of it, he said, ‘These are incredible…mmmm…..’ and then he went back into a daze as he ate them.
He hasn’t been the same since.
I’m going to give my customer this batch on the house so he can test them out and see how they all like them.
I also made some mini cookies- just 1 inch in diameter (but they look much bigger in this deceiving picture!)
Mini cookies are fun for lunches when you want just a little something sweet.
Or you can go big or go home. ;)
Food for thought: If you could have one recipe made healthier and/or vegan what would it be?
They look delicious! I wish it were possible for vegan cheesecake to taste as good as real cheesecake, but it doesn’t.
there are tons of great RAW vegan cheesecake recipes!! :)
Raw cheesecake IS delicious. Much better than that tofutti stuff.
Lemon Mereange (no idea how to spell that) pie!! :) Is that even possible vegan?
Yummy yummy! I made oatmeal cookies yesterday but these look even better!!
Yummmmm! Those look so so good and I can almost taste them just by looking at the photos! I’m sure you’ll have some very impressed customers!
They are so THICK! OMG I need one.
These cookies look FAB! Can’t wait to give them a try. The one recipe I would love to have would be a vegan healthy version of a ranch dressing:)
These looked so good I just had to make them tonight and they definitely did not disappoint!! The walnuts were just perfect and I subbed whole wheat flour with no problems. Another amazing recipe!
I would like pie crusts to be able to be healthy, but still buttery and flaky and delicious…mmm mmm good
Thanks for the info about Kamut flour! I “veganized” my pumpkin bread recipe the other day and tried it with oat and rye flour, but the batter wasn’t cooking well without the gluten. The cake wasn’t rising and it wasn’t sticking together and was very dense (looked like manna bread). When I made it with the wheat flour, it was perfect! Nice and bready. Just like the original recipe. I can eat gluten, but have a hard time with wheat flour. Do you think spelt or kamut flour would work? Let me know!
LOL ALLIE. Yes. Angela does it again! Amazing.
I’d have to think real hard on that question. I think most things can be “healthified” by a few basic substitutions….
I would love a healthy, vegan, and delicious version of black bottom banana cream pie . . . I really think this would complete me :)
HOLY YUM. I was wondering though, Angela- what do you do with your not-so-close-to-perfection a.k.a. ‘rejected’ (just sounds bad) baked goods?
Yummm those look great! I actually had a similar-looking cookie today at the Veg Food Fair in Toronto, and it was delicious. I love oatmeal raisin :)
mmm cookies! Oatmeal raisin is probably my favorite cookie!
the healthy dessert recipe i would most like would be something modeled off of whole food’s DELICIOUS dairy free orange cake. it tastes amazing! and not so unhealthy…so i guess i’m just looking for a cheaper, rather than healthier, alternative to buying cake at whole foods every other day ;)
I would like to have a healthy, veganized recipe for Egg Custard Pie. It is probably not possible. BTW, I’ve been reading your blog for awhile now and am totally impressed with your recipes. You are an inspiration to me and it has really helped me to read about your struggles with binging and weight. I do have a question about maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, etc. I am trying to watch my calorie intake and these products are so high in calories that it really eats into my calorie budget. I am really trying to stay away from fake sugars. Many of your recipes call for one of these syrups and I am wondering if you eat these in moderation or if (because you are so active) that you don’t have to worry about it? Thank you so much for this blog!
I wish there were a way to make buttercream frosting healthy – but I have no idea how that could happen! :)
VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES! Or anything vanilla cake batter flavoured. Maybe cake batter oatmeal? I just can’t get enough of cake batter! Like birthday-cake flavoured ice cream. Can you tell I’m obsessed?! Ok, maybe a little. :)
Magic bars!