Chocolate, Oat, and Nut Cookies

Some families bond over sports. Others, the outdoors. Some share values. Mine? I bonded with my mother and sister over about a bajillion batches of cookies.

I was brought up under the doctrine that anything could be cured—boredom, the sniffles, crankiness—through the cathartic creation of a batch of cookies. (Feeling sad? Let’s talk about it while we whip up some oatmeal raisins.) Admittedly, to this day, I bake cookies for emotional reasons. Upon moving out and starting a life of my own, baking sessions became affordable therapy (feel that breakup fade away as the butter is whipped into submission and fluffy sweetness). I gave love, thanks, appreciation, and I’m sorrys wrapped into a basket of crispy-on-the-outside-and-soft-in-the-middle confections. It was my thing.

Alas, a girl can’t eat as many cookies as her 5-year-old (or 20-year-old) self once could. Since discovering I’m lactose intolerant, and my sister deciding to forgo gluten, the demand for my traditional treats trickled off. The past few years have a been an ongoing experiment in trying to recreate the inherent magic in my mom’s original confections—sans stomach ache and snug jeans.

With work off this Friday (gotta love those teacher-in-service days), and a visit to my sister for her birthday in store, I decided it was a ripe opportunity for experimentation (just the push I needed to get out of my banana bread and granola rut). These chocolaty oatmeal wonders, with their soft chocolate chunks, nutty bite, and buttery-without-the-butter dough answer an old-fashioned cookie craving. True, they’re hardly sugar free, but, hey, cookies that taste this good sans butter and white flour are a birthday-worthy win in my book. Happy birthday, Sis!

 

The Recipe
1 cup grapeseed oil (or any other cooking oil)
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free oat flour (buy it in the bulk aisle or grind it yourself)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 cup gluten-free oatmeal
1 cup finely chopped nuts

1. Preheat the oven to 325.
2. In bowl, mix together oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Gently add in oat flour, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum.
4. Fold in chocolate, oatmeal, and nuts (I like pecans).
5. Using a melon baller, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the portions at least an inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly browned around the edges.
6. Let cool slightly before serving.