Snatch up one (or two) of these Chocolate Chip Trail Cookies before you hit the road! This is one of my favorite “cluster of many good things” cookie recipes. It is a nutty, rustic, whole-grain infused cookie that has a tempting balance of naughty and nice with oats, nuts and chocolate.
Rich vegan chocolate chips snuggle beside whole grain oats and healthy nuts with cozy cinnamon, citrus and vanilla.
11/2017 Updated! This post is now updated to include TWO oat-chocolate chip cookie recipes. The original recipe, plus an updated version with my “soaked oatmeal” hack. I have also included a how-to video..
Updated recipe cookies. A bit more moist and cake-like, yet still rustic and chunky.
Original recipe cookies. These are a bit more rugged, bumpy and hearty. Less buttery and moist.
(Get that original recipe at the very bottom of this post. The new recipe is in the gray section. New recipe photos follow..)
Gently soaking the oats to soften..
Updated content! Instead of writing a new recipe post, I decided to serve up this updated recipe alongside the old one since they are so similar and you can really consult both recipes to get some guidance for your own cookies. The new recipe has a slightly softer batter with softer oats. I soaked the oats in a bit of hot water to soften them. In contrast, the original recipe is ‘vegan butter and oil’ free and uses applesauce and peanut butter to moisten and richen things up.
The new recipe!..
These vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies have cinnamon, optional orange and vanilla tones with loads of chocolate chips and fluffy rolled oats. My soaking-the-oats trick ensures that your oats are tender, yet still maintain that lovely nutty, whole grain oatmeal texture!
This is a really fun recipe to make with kids too. Because you get cookies in the end (and kids love cookies!) but you also fill the cookies with some healthy ingredients like nuts and oats. You can have older kids help out by mushing the soaked oats. You can also have them help with the measuring of ingredients.
Then you can serve the warm cookies for everyone and enjoy your cookie bounty together amidst twinkling lights, cozy fall weather and maybe a few mugs of cold vegan milk, herb tea or cocoa.
Video. Watch me make them..
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Soft Oatmeal Cookie Hack. So here is the hack part.. I love using whole rolled oats in recipes. But sometimes they can end up a bit dry and even sharp in your cookies or breads. I don’t mind that texture for a food like granola, but for fluffy cookies, I crave a more tender texture.
So here is my rolled oats baking hack:
Add your rolled oats to a small bowl, then add in very hot (just under boiling) water. Stir it around like oatmeal. Do not over stir and ‘mush up’ your oats, you just want the oats coated in water to soften the edges, while keeping the oat whole, not broken up too much. Then you set this mixture aside and add it to the cookie dough bowl as you fold things along, wet and dry. I add the oats after all the other wet ingredients have been added, but before adding the dry.
Also in today’s cookie recipe.. Almond Flour. I haven’t worked with almond flour in a long time, but decided to experiment with it for these cookies. I really enjoyed the flavor and texture it adds. I tested these cookies a few times – one time just adding almond flour and another time adding in almond flour plus one tablespoon of tapioca flour to help bind. Both versions worked, but if you do not have tapioca flour, be very conscious to not under-bake the cookies, and maybe even overbake them a tin bit to help bind things together.
No Almond Flour? If you just want to use all wheat flour for these cookies, go for it, but the flavor and texture will be slightly less earthy and textures.
All Gluten Free? If you need to make these cookies 100% GF, you can omit the wheat flour and sub in your favorite gluten-free all purpose flour or experiment with using all almond flour. An additional binder like flax or tapioca or another starch would be advised if using just the almond flour. “All purpose” gluten-free flours usually have a binder like a starch built in.
The Lovely Bits! The best part about these cookies: the texture! Nutty walnuts, chocolate chunks or chips or a mix of the two, those lovely oats, optional orange zest and loads of warming spice and vanilla in every bite.
Do these cookie look familiar, book owners?? You are correct! I added a very similar recipe to my book Healthy Happy Vegan Kitchen. You can find My Trail Trekker Coconut Oat Cookies recipe on page 285. Those cookies have added coconut shreds for even more bumpy-textured goodness.
I hope you guys love this recipe as much as I do!
I made a parfait using bananas, vegan plain coconut yogurt and crumbled cookies. Really good!..
Original post photos + recipe is below (originally posted 8/4/2012)…
I love to bake a big batch of these cookies then store them in .. the freezer. Because they actually thaw pretty quickly to enjoy – and I even kind of like them half frozen .. mostly because they get really chewy. Also because when they are in a chewy-half-frozen state it takes me longer to nibble through one! So that usually slows down my nibbling so I savor each cluster-filled nibble even more.
Or you can certainly serve them freshly baked .. warm and fluffy, these hearty cookies would make a sweet surprise as an after-school or after-work snack!..
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Trail Cookies
vegan, 12-16 cookies (depending on size)
dry:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup white flour, organic*
1 cup sugar, organic (Florida Crystals for me)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon baking powder
*flour note: you can substitute with a wide variety of flours – just note that if using a heartier flour (like whole wheat) you may need a splash more liquid to moisten the dough. Gluten free flour is another option for you.
wet:
½ cup water + 2 tablespoon flax seeds + 1 teaspoon chia seeds* (flax/chia egg)
½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 banana, mashed
⅓ cup peanut butter
1 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
*chia seeds are optional but add additional binding power + nutrients
fold-in:
½ cup raisins (or dried cranberries or blueberries)
¾ cup walnuts, chopped (pecans or peanuts also work nicely)
⅓ cup vegan mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Add dry ingredients to large mixing bowl. Stir in wet ingredients. Fold in the “fold ins” until the dough starts to form. into a moist ball.
3. Spoon cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
4. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes – may be more or less if you modify your cookie size a bit. You want the cookies moist and fluffy and slightly browned on the edges when coming out of the oven.
Cool and serve.
Nutritional Info – per cookie in a 14 cookie batch
Calories: 211kcal, Fat: 7g, Fiber: 2.5g, Protein: 5g, Carbs: 34g
Zoom out even more and you can see my life.. a kitty and a Mac laptop in the background of my vegan cookie photo shoot..
Back to the updated recipe..
I had some leftover Halloween vegan “M&Ms” style candy (by the brand UNReal) which I tossed in… which is what that smudged red dot on the back left is. Tip: Toss in other ingredients if you’d like! Dried fruit, seeds, other nuts, candy..
Pin it for later..
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Oatmeal Mixture:
- 1 ¼ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup just-under-boiling water
Wet:
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- ½ – ¾ cup sugar (any variety)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Dry:
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (Optional: add in ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg for another layer of spice)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca flour (optional – sub with flour if needed)
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
Fold in:
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips or chunks
- ½ cup raw walnuts
- ¼ teaspoon orange zest (optional for a citrus accent)
Instructions
- Add the rolled oats and just-under-boiling water to a small bowl. Stir well to create a soft and thick oatmeal mixture. Using hearty rolled oats helps to prevent over-mushing of the grains. Do not use a quick oat or similar. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the wet ingredients, using a mixer.
- Fold in the soft rolled oat + water mixture.
- Fold in the dry ingredients to create a cookie dough consistency. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
- Place the dough bowl in the fridge for at least ten minutes. While the dough is chilling, you can preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop the dough into balls. You can do small or large cookies. Baking time will increase a bit if you do super large cookie sizes.
- Bake medium sized cookies for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cookies will be done when the edges start to slightly brown.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool for another 10-15 minutes before serving. Leftovers: Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. They also freeze well!
