Gluten-free Vegan Oatmeal Cookies, anyone?
Do you fancy wholegrain vegan oatmeal cookies that contain no nuts or gluten and are easy to make? Look no further! These little cookies are allergy-friendly, plant-based and bursting with chocolate. They are soft on the inside, crispy on the outside and so much nicer than any other gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies I have ever tried. They are also made with easy-to-source ingredients. Best thing about these babies? It was an accidental recipe and they tasted better than regular cookies (boom!).
An Improvised Recipe: Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cookies
A few weeks ago, I made gluten-free cookies using my friend Kate’s recipe. Kate, who blogs at ‘The Gluten Free Alchemist,’ is an absolute genius when it comes to making gluten-free food that looks and tastes incredible. It took me less than 15 minutes to whip up a batch of Kate’s cookies and for once, I had more free time to bake with the children.
When the gluten-free treats were in the oven, I decided to attempt a batch of gluten-free vegan chocolate cookies for Jumpy using Kate’s recipe as a starting point. I normally overthink everything and do a lot of research before I attempt something new, but I just went for it.
This little recipe was completely improvised and I have to say I feel a bit smug the cookies turned out so well. I have made them a couple of times since, and they are perfect every time.
Allergy-friendly baking can be daunting when you are new to the ‘free from’ world, but after you have experimented for a bit, realised for yourself what works and what does not, you will end up with more successes than failures (I promise!).
Since Kate’s cookies were already gluten-free, I only had to adapt them a bit more to make them egg-free so Jumpy could have them. Since I had dairy-free chocolate and spread at home I went for a vegan bake, so our dairy and wheat-free friends could try them too! I honestly did not expect it to work perfectly, but wow, the result was incredible and my children actually preferred them to the ‘normal’ cookies.
Here is what the children thought of my gluten-free vegan chocolate cookies after the first bite:
Wriggly: “Nommy!” (‘Yummy!)
Jumpy: “Yummy! They’re the best cookies ever!”
Crevette: “Really nice! They don’t even taste vegan.” Can you tell Crevette doesn’t normally enjoy vegan treats?
Beanie, sounding genuinely surprised: “Wow, they’re so nice!”
As for me, I found them absolutely delicious, and slightly addictive. They have a nice crunch to them, yet they are lovely and soft on the inside. As I was working that night, I was very naughty and finished the few biscuits we had saved for Jumpy’s snack the next day.
Let’s say I saw it as an opportunity to make them again the following day! They were so delicious that I made them twice more in the past week! We took them on a picnic with friends and they were a huge hit!
With no further ado, here is my recipe for
Gluten-free Vegan Oatmeal Cookies – wheat, nut, egg, dairy & soya-free
Gluten-free Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
This Recipe for Gluten-free Vegan Oatmeal Cookies (wheat, nut, egg, dairy & soya-free) makes 12 cookies.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
- 60 g dark brown soft sugar
- 70 g dairy-free spread (I use Pure Sunflower)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 95 g gluten-free oats
- 30 g self-raising gluten-free flour (I use The Free From Fairy)
- Pinch of fleur de Sel or Maldon Salt
- 100 g vegan chocolate (I use a mixture of 70% dark chocolate & Moo Free Milk Chocolate), chopped into rough chocolate chips
Instructions
Start by making a chia egg. Blend the chia seeds to a fine powder. In a small bowl, mix the powdered chia seeds with 1 1/2 tablespoons water. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat your oven to 180ºC (Gas Mark 4 / 350ºF). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Blend half of the oats to obtain a fine powder and keep aside.
Place the sugar in a large bowl and squash any lumps with the back of a spoon. Add in the dairy-free spread and whisk until pale and creamy. Add in the vanilla extract and chia egg. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Add in the flour, salt and all the oats. Using a spoon, stir together until all dry ingredients are coated with the wet mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Divide the mixture into 12 balls (I use a mini scoop) then roll the mixture into balls. Do this quickly so you do not overwork the dough.
Place six balls on the baking sheet, making sure they are evenly spaced. Using the palm of your hand, flatten each ball into a disk (about 1cm thick). This is important as these cookies will not spread when you bake them. Bake for 15 minutes. Unlike traditional cookies, these will not really become golden brown or darken around the edges. They will stay rather pale, but still golden.
Take the baking tray out of the oven and leave to cool for about 15 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack. Once the baking tray has cooled down, you can bake your next batch, or flatten the remaining dough balls and freeze them for another time.
Recipe Notes
Before blending the chia seeds, make sure your blender bowl or food processor is completely dry. Use the same blender bowl (not rinsed) to powder the oats.
You can store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
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Love love love the look of these! Gonna be making them for sure you clever lady.
Well Kate is the clever one. I just adapted the recipe to make it vegan and used your flour instead of tapioca flour 🙂
Love it! cookies always win at picnics in my opinion, easy to grab and run to the next playground activity or shoot up and tree and nibble overhead of the mummies on the picnic blanket….and that’s me….not my kids!!! 😉 #FreeFromPicnics
I know, I’m the same. I always end up stealing the kids’ treats, whoops #sorrynotsorry
These sound amazing Mel – chia seeds have been such a revelation to me – they really are an amazing ingredient!
They are, aren’t they? Seriously life changing stuff 🙂
I love it when an experiment works out! THe kids’ comments are really cute and I think Miss A had that dress too!
These cookies are just so so nice! She was given the dress a couple of weeks ago. A friend was sorting through her daughters’ clothes and she now has a wardrobe full of pretty dresses!
These look scrummy!
Thanks sweetie x
Oh my goodness – these look incredible!!! And I love that they are free from so many things – but full of goodness from the oats. I do just love it when you get an idea for something, experiment and it just ‘works’ first time 😀 Eb x
I know! It rarely happens that way so this recipe is really special for all of us! I love making a huge batch and freezing half of it! We always have fresh cookies ready to be cooked, yummy!
These look absolutely stunning! I am definitely going to give them a go! And who can resist a lovely cookie especially when it is freefrom dairy, eggs and gluten!! Clever lady! x #Freefrompicnics
Thanks my lovely. I have to say I was a bit smug when everyone loved them, including my best friend who always looks suspicious when I hand her a ‘free from’ treat 🙂
Wow! You’ve done a great job Mel. Love how you have adapted the cookies to meet the needs of your kids, friends and pretty much anyone else who wants to eat them!
Thanks for the shout out too! I love it when people take a recipe from the blog and make it even better! xx
PS…. Are you ok for me to update my cookie post using the pics you took of the original recipe? All credit will be clear!! x
The day I made your cookies will be remembered forever as the day I adapted a recipe for us and my tweaks worked 1st time… Now that was a first!!
Of course you can use the photos; that’s exactly why I took them 🙂 x
These look so good Mel, will definitely be trying these
Thanks lovely. Tell me what you think when you do. x
O yes to oatmeal cookies! You already know I’m a fan 🙂
It’s the leaning tower of amazing cookies. One is simply not enough! love this pretty photo hun
It’s the leaning tower of amazing cookies. One is simply not enough! love this pretty photo hun
Thanks sweetie. These babies are so scrummy!
These look gorgeous. I love oaty biscuits, but haven’t made any for ages. I think you’ve inspired me.
🙂