goodness two ways

An unexpected road trip this week prompted an experiment for a yummy vegan cookie recipe. Yes, vegan. They were surprisingly delicious! I had been eying this recipe from the edible perspective for sometime. Her blog is amazing! There are SO many scrumptious, nutritious recipes to be enjoyed.

The recipe I discovered this week was for "Vegan Oatmeal Choco Banana Cookies." Quite a mouthful... but the name really speaks for itself. The cookies were filled with yummy goodness!

• 2c rolled oats
• 1 & 1/3c spelt flour
• 1/2t salt
• 1t cinnamon
• 1/4c unsweetened coconut
• 2t baking powder
• 1/3-1/2c dark chocolate chips
• 1 medium chopped banana
• 2/3c ground flaxseed meal
• 2/3c brown rice syrup
• 1/4c & 2T nut butter [I used Laura Scudder's All Natural Peanut Butter- Nutty]
• 3t vanilla
• 4T safflower [or other light oil] 

little t= teaspoon 
big T=tablespoon

I had most of these ingredients, but I have to be honest with you... I had never heard of Brown Rice Syrup and was fairly confident I wasn't going to find it. To my surprise, Safeway had it. It just took a little aisle searching. (In case you're looking, its located near the rice... not in the baking or syrup aisles!)

-Preheat oven to 350°
-Combine oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, coconut, chocolate and baking powder.  Stir well.

I used a trusty KitchenAid for the cookies (surprise, surprise). So after mixing these ingredients, I placed them in a separate bowl, so I could use my mixer for the wet ingredients.

-In another bowl combine the flaxseed meal, brown rice syrup, nut butter and vanilla. 
-Next, stir the oil into the wet mixture.
-Gently stir in the banana with the wet mixture.

The recipe calls for adding wet to dry, but since I already had my wet mixture in the mixer, I added dry to wet. I just added the dry ingredients gradually, so they would actually stay in the bowl!

 

-Stir until just combined. 
-Line cookie sheets with parchment [or lightly grease your pans]. 
-Scoop out 1-2T of batter and slightly flatten the cookies. They do not spread much at all when baking.
-Cook for 12-14min, until JUST starting to brown.  Do not overcook these!  
(To prevent further cooking, remove the cookies from the baking sheet and place on a cooling rack.)

The ingredients and consistency made it hard for me to tell when they were turning brown. Just stick with the recipe times to make sure your cookies are nice n' moist.

 

While these aren't really the best "cookie dough" cookies, they are delicious when baked. I'm not a big coconut fan, but it only added more texture. It definitely wasn't overbearing. I was also surprised that they were still sweet and moist without any sugar or butter!

Enjoy!