you guys want some cookies?

well hello there! apologies if you aren’t familiar with the hilarity that is corky romano – that clip above might not make any sense. but there has been a lot of talk around the blogs lately that it is girl scout cookie season in america, which makes me pine for those boxes of goodness. my faves were always samoas. what are yours?

anyway, it has been a while since i’ve baked anything (probably the last time was the mince pies before christmas), so i decided to get back in there with a pretty healthy cookie recipe. granted, it contains some sugar and some regular flour (sorry, not gluten free!). but with the addition of rolled oats, dried apples, and a few healthy substitutions, we’ve got a nice friendly treat here. enjoy!

vegan apple oatmeal cookies

based on a recipe from how to cook everything vegetarian

(awesome bird tray courtesy of my awesome mom)

the particulars:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
• 1 1/2 cups dried apples
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or use any milk you wish)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. preheat the oven to gas mark 5. cream the coconut oil with the brown sugar and agave nectar until nicely blended. you could use an electric mixer or whisk here. add the applesauce and beat until well combined.
2. combine the flour, oats, apples, cinnamon, salt and baking powder in a bowl. alternating with the almond milk, add the dry ingredients to the wet little by little and stir to blend. stir in the vanilla at the end.
3. put tbsp size mounds of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. bake for about 15 minutes, until they are nicely browned in parts. cool for a couple of minutes before storing in an airtight container (will last a couple of days).

lesson learned: if the dough is too dry, add a splash more almond milk and/or a splash of canola oil or more melted coconut oil if you have any. once done, they should be doughy but not too dry. perfect!

on a sidenote, i’d like to draw your attention to the new page entitled “useful terms“. since i’m writing to you from england, but i’m used to american cooking measurements and terms (and i know a lot of the people who read this blog are based in the states), i thought i’d create a handy little page with some conversions and translations. if i ever use a term in a recipe that i think folks from either country may not understand, i’ll link up to that page. and i’ll be constantly updating it to include useful terms as they come to me. hope it helps!

Read more like this: