Easy Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
My oatmeal chocolate chip recipe is legendary in my family. I started with the recipe for “vanishing oatmeal cookies” that’s printed on the lid of every Quaker Oats carton. I’ve been baking as long as I can remember, but I really got into baking as a teenager. This was the first recipe that I ever tweaked to make my own. They’re my sister’s favorite cookies. They’ve been known to convert oatmeal-cookie-haters into lovers. These cookies are gooey, soft, and chocolatey. They taste amazing fresh out of the oven yet somehow seem to improve as time goes on. The recipe is extremely reliable—I’ve never messed up these cookies, and they’re perfectly consistent batch-to-batch. Are these cookies lookers? No. Are they perfect and snackable and the best oatmeal cookie ever? Yes.
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Tyler and I just moved to a new apartment, and I wanted to make cookies for our new neighbors as a friendly and safe way to introduce ourselves during a pandemic. My oatmeal cookie recipe called to me, but I’ve never attempted to make them vegan. I’ve been subbing vegan butter for dairy butter for many years, but I hadn’t yet tried this recipe with a vegan egg. Several of my followers requested low-sugar/high-fiber versions of my baked good recipes as well, so I’ve also used maple syrup in place of brown sugar and coconut sugar in place of refined white sugar. Both maple syrup and coconut sugar are still sugar. What’s nutritious about these sweeteners compared to refined sugar is that they contain trace minerals. Maple syrup contains manganese, for example, which supports healthy bones. It also has trace amounts of zinc, copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Coconut sugar contains many nutrients including iron, zinc, potassium, and calcium. In contrast, refined white sugar contains almost no vitamins and minerals.
That said, honestly, sugar is sugar. Your body will digest white sugar, coconut sugar, and maple syrup the same. All sugars can cause inflammation and digestive distress and potentially disrupt metabolic processes. However, sugar is just pure energy. All foods are broken down into base parts—sugar is a simple carbohydrate, meaning it has to be broken down the least. It’s great for a boost of energy before a workout or strenuous activity. The role sugar plays in our emotional, nostalgic, and mental relationship with food is also extremely important and, in many cases, can be health-promoting.
Think of it this way: agonizing over whether or not to eat a cookie and then berating yourself for hours afterwards is extremely stressful. This stress is a hormone response in your body and THAT is what ultimately increases inflammation, digestive distress, and other issues. In contrast, if you see a yummy cookie and eat it without agonizing over it, enjoy the cookie greatly, stay present, feel grateful, and move on with your day (with a nice little boost of energy from the sugar), you will not have had that bump of cortisol and stress hormones. You will feel calm, happy, and connected, which are the main markers of a long, healthy life.
This recipe is easy, reliable, hard to mess up, nutritious, and freaking tasty! What more could you want? On that note, please enjoy this delicious cookie recipe!
Here is my Easy vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe:
PREP TIME: 15 minutes
BAKE TIME: 8-10 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 20-30 minutes
YEILD: 24 cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons vegan butter, softened at room temperature (I prefer Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter)
1/3 Cup maple syrup
1/2 Cup coconut sugar
2 Flax Eggs (1 flax egg = 1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp room-temp water + let sit for 15 minutes)
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 Cups whole-wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon salt
3 Cups uncooked rolled or old-fashioned oats
1/2 Cup vegan mini-chocolate-chips
1/2 Cup vegan dark chocolate chips
Cooking Instructions:
Heat oven to 350°F
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
In large bowl, cream together softened butter and coconut sugar on medium speed of electric or stand mixer. This should be take about 5-6 minutes - beat until the butter has whipped and the sugar is fully incorporated
Add the maple syrup; mix well
Add flax eggs and vanilla; beat well
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt
Add flour mix to wet mix, 1/3 at a time; mix until fully incorporated, but don’t over-mix
Add oats; mix
Add chocolate chips; mix
.Drop dough by large, rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment papered cookie sheets
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. NOTE: The maple syrup, coconut sugar, whole wheat flour, and flax egg will make these look “brown” before they are fully cooked - to test doneness, gently press the top of the cookie with your finger - it should be soft but not mushy
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack
Cool completely. Store tightly covered
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS:
Dairy butter for Vegan butter
2 chicken eggs for 2 flax eggs
3/4 cups brown sugar for 1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup granulated or raw sugar for 1/2 cup coconut sugar
raisins and/or nuts for chocolate chips
**I haven’t tried this recipe with gluten-free flour, but in theory it should work. You might get a slightly crumblier texture, so keep that in mind.
Did you try this recipe? What did you think? Leave a comment below and please share with others!
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