Sunday, May 13, 2012

Healthy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies




Happy Mother's Day!

Although I love sugar and chocolate filled desserts, my mom has many food limitations and I wanted her to be able to enjoy dessert on her big day. I scoured my brain and several different blogs until I came up with something she could eat and we could all enjoy! I got the idea for the recipe over at Chocolate Covered Katie and made a few alternations to suit my needs.



If I tell you these cookies are not only diary and egg free, but also sugar-free and gluten-free and low in fat you might ask me how good they taste. Fair enough. As a lover of "normal" dessert I can tell you they are pretty darn good. With that said, they don't taste like oatmeal cookies at all - they are tasty in their own healthier way. I added chocolate chips to a portion of them (in addition to the raisins) b/c I was worried about the dirty looks I might get from my family when I brought these as the only dessert. As it turned out I was worried for nothing as everyone said they were great and my great uncle must have had at least...well, more than two.



Healthy Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
How I did it:

(makes about 20 - 25)

1 1/8 cup rolled oats
 8 dates, chopped
1 cup unsweetened natural applesauce
1/2 heaping cup almond butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
6 tbsp baking raisins (or raisins pre-soaked in juice)
3 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, stir almond butter and apple sauce until well combined. Set aside.

3. Combine 1/2 cup of the oats and the dates in a food processor until they become a powder. Add this mixture into the applesauce/almond butter mixture and then add the rest of the ingredients, except the chocolate. I separated out half of the batter and mixed the chocolate into the remainder.

3. Shape into small balls ("dough" will be very sticky) and bake for about 15 minutes or until they are firm and start to brown a bit. Note: They will not change shape. If you can't wait feel free to enjoy the batter uncooked!

2 comments:

The Mom said...

I must say that I really enjoyed being a part of the "dessert gang" as I usually just watch the consumption of something wonderful made by Amy! They were very good! I had the ones without the chocolate!

Amy said...

Glad you were able to enjoy it!