Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I'm not sure I know anyone who can resist a chocolate chip cookie coming right out of the oven. There are so many variations to them, and everyone has their own tastes. There's chewy, crunchy, sparse chocolate, mostly chocolate, thin, thick, with nuts and without. The list could go on.

These cookies are of the chewy variety, and since I like a little more texture than just the chips, but am not a huge fan of nuts in cookies, I add oatmeal. This is a very adaptable recipe for all types of cookie fans, and I'll let you know where you can vary the ingredients to suit your cookie tastes.

Here's the ingredients that I used.




I like to use butter-flavored vegetable shortening rather than vegan butters because this makes the cookies stay softer over time. I also make sure the banana has a lot of brown spots so the flavor is sweeter and it's easier to mash up. When all the ingredients are mixed together, it looks a little like this:



Then line them up in a row...



And wait for the first batch to be done so you can put the other batch in...



And they come out looking gorgeous!



And as an aside, I have a slight obsession with owl trinkets. They're all over my house, and I like to show them off, so most of my baked goods will be featured alongside an owl just for kicks. The recipe for these cookies, along with variations, is below. Enjoy!



Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies:

Ingredients:

- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) vegetable shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 very ripe banana
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chips
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift flour, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine shortening, brown sugar, sugar, banana and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer or a fork until smooth.

Pour half of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Mix until combined. Pour the remaining half of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture and mix until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and oatmeal.

Place by rounded Tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until very lightly browned. These cookies don't spread out a lot, so be sure not to overcook them waiting for them to flatten.

Variations:

If you like your cookies to be crunchy instead of chewy, then substitute a vegan butter for the shortening (such as Earth Balance) and the brown sugar with plain sugar. If you use Earth Balance, you should cut the salt down to 1/2 a teaspoon since their butter is pre-salted. When you lay them out onto the baking sheet, then press them down so they are flat. This way, they will be thinner when you take them out and eating them won't feel oppressive.

If you like less chocolate, or would like to add nuts, then either use only one cup chocolate chips, or use one cup chocolate chips and one cup nuts.

If you would like a healthier version of these cookies, you can substitute dried fruit (such as raisins or dried cranberries or dried blueberries) for the chocolate chips. Use the same amount.



I hope you enjoy this recipe! It's one i come back to over and over again. Comments and questions are always appreciated.