Banana Bread Oat Cookies

I'm not much of a baker and I don't have the patience or precision for complicated recipes. That's my husband's domain. But this is one vegan cookie recipe that is fool-proof. You don't need a stand mixer and you can really whip up the whole batch using just a single bowl if you want. Including baking, you're looking at just 30 minutes of your time too. 

Yes, I know they look scrumptious. You should make a batch right now. 

These cookies are fairly low on sugar and you can adjust the "extras" to suit your own taste. We like dark chocolate chips but you can go with chopped nuts or shredded coconut if you want. I'll bet some chopped dried fruit would be nice too. You don't have to use precisely a 1/2 cup but if you add much more, the cookies won't hold together well.

• 2 1/2 cups whole rolled oats
• 3/4 cups flour*
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (we use almond milk)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large, very ripe banana
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips or whatever other add-ins you want
• 1 tbs ground flax seed
• 2 1/2 tbs water

Get the oven heating up to 350F and grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper. I use a silicon baking mat which works nicely too.

First, set up your "flax egg" by stirring ground flax and water in a little dish. It needs a minute to thicken up so you should start with that.

Meanwhile, mix up all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Set that aside.

Then mash up the banana in another dish, and add the remaining wet ingredients to it. Stir until blended, but it's OK if you have a few small chunks of banana. It doesn't need to be puree. If your "egg" has thickened up, you can scoop that into the mix too. If not, just give it a minute. It needs to be firmed up before you add to the batter.

Once everything is in, add the wet mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir it all through. Fold in whatever extras you are adding to your cookies.

Now scoop out the mix, using about a 1/4 cup for each cookie. Set out on your baking sheet, giving each scoop a press down to flatten. They can be fairly close to each other as they don't really spread much when baking. I get about 16 cookies per batch.

Bake for 15 minutes. They should be firm but not hard. Add another minute or two if necessary but make sure you don't over-bake them. Let them cool on a wire rack, and enjoy.

These vegan cookies are a soft oat-cluster type of cookie that are nicely sweet without being overly sugary. Depending on what you add to them as your extras, they may even work as a bit of a breakfast treat.

Shorter version: combine the dry ingredients, combine the wet ingredients, mix them together and bake. I don't think a vegan cookie recipe can be any simpler.

* If you want to make these gluten-free, use white rice flour. Other types of gluten-free flour may be fine as well but white rice flour is what we use and that's what I know. Feel free to leave a comment if you know other flours work in this recipe. Otherwise, you gluten eaters can just stick to the usual wheat flour.