Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Raisin Cookies

These cookies are perfect for when you want a quick, tasty, less-guilt sweet treat. Just mix in a bowl and bake.

I’ll be the first to tell you that these cookies probably won’t win any blue ribbons at your local fair. They have no butter, no eggs and they’re light on sugar–all the ingredients we expect a good cookie to have. I never meant to share this recipe here because who would want a less-than cookie recipe? At least that’s how I looked at them initially.

But I reminded myself that this space has always been, first and foremost, about preserving the recipes that my family and I enjoy and after several batches of these cookies they’ve earned a spot on this blog.

Don’t get me wrong–I’d normally say bring all the butter and eggs but my body is no longer as forgiving of my penchant for after-dinner treats. I’d like to blame my husband, to say that I bake treats to satisfy his sweet tooth, but who am I kidding? I have one, too. And besides, these cookies are a far cry from the first batch of “healthy” cookies I ever made (pre-blog) that I heard a visiting friend picked up, took a bite of and promptly returned to the counter. This is not that cookie.

This is a small-batch recipe that you can whip up quickly after dinner and enjoy for a day or two. The absence of butter and minimum amount of sugar are no problem for us–they are plenty sweet from the raisins, chocolate chips and a sprinkling of sweetened cocoa that also amplifies the chocolate flavor. And since they’re loaded with oats, I like to tell myself that they can’t be too bad for us either.

Speaking of oats, do you make a point to always have a container of Quaker Oats like I do? Our daily oats are the steel cut variety and I’m an infrequent cookie baker–as in once or twice a year–but my pantry seems incomplete without that paper box. Usually, I’ll remember it sitting on the bottom shelf with the Best By date long passed so I end up tossing it and promptly pick up a new one.

I accidentally brought home quick oats the last time (the one-minute variety rather than the old-fashioned) so I’ve been trying to use up the box over breakfast and these cookies.

Since they are quick to turn to mush my tip is to add the liquid and oil to the cookie batter and form the balls after the oven has reached temperature so they keep their texture while baking.

So while I might not have the next award-winning recipe for you I can say that these vegan cookies are just the right thing to enjoy when you’re feeling like a little sweet treat or, if you’re like me, you have a box of Quaker Oats sitting around and it’s begging to be used up. You’d be doing your pantry a favor and your taste buds would be happy, too.