Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan, Gluten Free & Refined Sugar Free)

Yesterday, I shared a great recipe for apple muffins and today I'm sitting down to share another fun recipe! All day on Monday, I was really craving oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I made it through my school day, then headed off to my evening yoga class but as soon as I got in the door from yoga I got to work on my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't get in the kitchen fast enough!

This is another recipe from Feasting on Fruit (a.k.a. my favorite blog as of late). The original recipe offers 2 options to make the cookies. I opted to use the applesauce version. If you are interested in making these cookies with nut butter instead of applesauce, I recommend referencing the original recipe. 

Not only are these cookies so darn good by they are easy as can be to make! This recipe does not call for any hard to find ingredients - it's straight forward and comes together so quickly! Let's get to it!

Start by combing 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce, 1/3 cup of maple syrup and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a medium mixing bowl. Set this bowl aside until later.

In a separate, small mixing bowl, combine 3/4 cup of gluten free rolled oats, 1 cup of gluten free oat flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the medium mixing bowl and stir to form a batter. When the batter is uniform, add in 1/4 cup of vegan chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. I used chocolate chips because they are what I had on hand, but the original recipe actually calls for chocolate chunks.

When shopping for chocolate chips, I am careful to get chocolate chips that are vegan and refined sugar free. But you can use any kind of chocolate chips you like.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop Tablespoons of batter onto the baking sheet about an inch apart from each other. I was able to separate 15 Tablespoons of dough, resulting in 15 cookies. Flatten each cookie slightly before putting them in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, bake the cookies for 15 minutes. After the bake time, remove the cookies from the oven. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool.

Store the cookies in an air tight container for up to 1 week.

OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
[Vegan, Gluten Free & Refined Sugar Free]
yield 15 cookies

ingredients
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup rolled oats (gluten free)
1 cup oat flour (gluten free)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, the maple syrup and the vanilla extract. Set the wet ingredients aside.
2. In a small separate mixing bowl, mix together salt, baking soda, GF rolled oats and GF oat flour.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the medium mixing bowl and stir to combine.
4. When the batter is uniform, fold in the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop Tablespoons of batter along the baking sheet about an inch apart. Flatten the cookies slightly before baking them.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. once preheated, bake the cookies for 15 minutes. When the cookies come out of the oven, let them sit on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7. Store the cooled cookies in an air tight container for up to one week.

As usual, let me know if you have questions!