I had this recipe sitting in the drafts section for a few months now… 7 months to be exact. Which is a shame because these are great cookies to make with non-vegan friends. It calls for almost all “normal” ingredients. Meaning there isn’t any fake butter, or things you wouldn’t find in the pantry. There is technically 2 tbsp of soy milk, but you can sub it for water. And there is flax and chia seeds, but you can take them out, you’ll just have a more tender cookie.
I also wanted to post these cookies since it is the start of Vegan Mofo- Vegan Month of Food. So that means we will be posting all vegan this month, not that I really have many recipes that use non-vegan foods. We are also going to launch the new segment “Alexa Asks- Jen Answers.” The segment is going to be various question Alexa has about a vegan diet, which many newbies might have.
These cookies came about since I ran out of chocolate chips. I usually make banana oatmeal cookies for my husband, and he was really upset that there wouldn’t be any chocolate in his cookies. So I added a little dark cocoa powder, and mixed in some different treats in. Dried cherries, peanuts, and dried coconut. The chia and flax give the cookies a little boost, and make them super sturdy to keep in a backpack (you know, for hiking).
They might not be the prettiest looking cookie, but they really do hit the spot when going for a hike or as a little afternoon snack at work. I listed regular cocoa powder in the ingredients, not dark cocoa. I don’t think it did anything for the taste or the appearance.
- 1 large mashed banana (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp almond milk *
- 1 tbsp chia seeds (ground) **
- 1 tbsp flax seeds (ground) **
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
- 1/3 cup peanuts
- 1/3 cup dried cherries
- 1/3 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep two cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly oil the pans.2 In a large bowl add the mashed banana, canola oil, sugar, vanilla, almond milk, flax, and chia seed. Mix together, mashing the banana further.3 In the same bowl, add the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix with the wet ingredients until just mixed.4 Add two cups quick-cooking oatmeal, peanuts, cherries, and coconut and mix in. Use your hands to get the oatmeal nice and moist.5 Roll balls that are about 2 tablespoons big and slightly flatten them, placing on the baking sheets.6 Back for 12 minutes, until dough is cooked through. Let cookies cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
* If you don't have almond or any other non-dairy milk, just use a little of water.** Ground chia and flax seed is added to help bind the cookies. But the banana should be able to hold the cookies together just fine by itself. Feel free to omit the seeds and you'll have a more tender cookie.
