Oatmeal Rasin Cookies - vegan

The other night, I'm not sure what woke me up first. It could have been the sound of water, or it could have been my husband's loud and sustained cursing. I managed to rouse myself, put on my glasses, turn on the light, and make my way to the closet with the towels before Mr Official Taster started bellowing my name and the word "help!" I honestly don't think he could form full sentences.

If you were to come over to my house, you would walk through the front door into a small entryway. The open, hardwood stairs would be immediately in front of you. Halfway up, they turn 180 degrees on themselves so that the top half of the staircase goes above your head as you stand there in my entryway. At the top of the staircase is a tiny bathroom. 

Do you see where this is going?

Yes, indeed, the toilet overflowed sometime around midnight, and due to it's proximity to the open staircase, said water not only flooded the tiny bathroom, but it also came down and through the stairs. And when it does, boy does it get everywhere. Once we stopped the multi-story waterfall, not only was there a large puddle on the floor of the entryway, but there was water on the walls, the railings, the stairs, our shoes, the leashes, and all the assorted stuff that tends to pile up by your shoes and keys until you get tired of it being there and clean it up. It's cleaned up now.

We used literally every single towel in the house, and when we were done mopping up with them, I started a load of wash before I headed back to bed. Unfortunately, I had trouble falling asleep because it turns out that washing machines use water, and every time the rhythm, cadence, or type of water sound changed, my mind went hyper alert trying to figure out if that was a good water noise or a bad water noise.

Eventually, of course, I was able to fall back asleep. However, Thursday morning was a little rough, and boy was I glad there were cookies for breakfast. 

Oatmeal Rasin Cookies - vegan

We’ve made versions of this both of the last couple of weekends, and if I were you I would skip or dial back the cinnamon if you choose to use chocolate chips so the flavors don’t compete too much. This recipe yields us about 20-25 cookies.

1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
3 Tbsp water or nondairy milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp nondairy milk
1 C flour (we used white whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 C quick oats, uncooked
1/2 C raisins or chocolate chips (see note)
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
zest from an orange, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine flax seed and water or milk. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the oil and sugars. Add in the flax seed+water, vanilla, and faux milk and whisk until smooth. Do the same with the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Finally, beat in the oats and zest, if using. If you add chocolate chips or dried fruit at this point, I would fold them in with a spoon rather than a hand mixer or whisk.

Drop cookies two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper or silicon baking mat). To reduce spreading, refrigerate dough or dropped cookies for 15 minutes or so. Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on your preferred crispiness level.