Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chunks & Dried Cranberries - vegan

Things are definitely improving here at Chez Sweets. I am feeling much better, and Mr Official Taster is not working 80 hours this week. We're even heading to the ballpark this evening. Go Phillies!

In celebration, I give you cookies. This is a good recipe that you can almost endlessly tweak. Dried cherries, apples, or raisins would all work, as would any kind of chocolate or nuts, if you're into those. If you're feeling sassy (and I hope you are), try changing up the spices a bit; add some cloves, more nutmeg, even pumpkin pie spice sounds good. Please share your experiments!

Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chunks & Dried Cranberries - vegan


1/2 C neutral oil*
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C applesauce
1 1/2 C flour
2 C rolled oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C nondairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 1/2 C chocolate chips/chunks, dried cranberries, or a combination**

Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, blend together oil and sugars. Beat in applesauce.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Alternating with the milk, add the dry ingredients to the dough a little at a time, mixing on low. Add in any chocolate chips/dried fruits/etc. Stir in extract.

Drop tablespoon-side mounds of dough 2-3 inches apart on your prepared baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 10-15 minutes (obviously, for soft cookies go for 10 minutes, and for crunchier cookies aim for 15). Cool cookies for a few minutes on the sheet before transferring to a rack to finish cooling. Store in a tightly covered container for no more than a day or two.

*lots of smart people suggest grapeseed oil as a good neutral oil. Corn or vegetable will also work. I used olive oil, mostly because I always do.
**I used about half and half, and my chocolate this time was some broken up dark chocolate. You could also use nuts, other dried fruit, coconut, different kinds of chocolate, etc.