There are few better ways to spend a Saturday morning than baking up some vegan goodness, which is exactly what I did yesterday. I knew I wanted to get my bake-on, but I also wanted something on the healthier side to share with my sister and friends, and something that I had all the ingredients for. After browsing through all my vegan baking books, I couldn't find anything that fit those requirements. In the end, I decided to make my own version of fat-free pumpkin oatmeal raisin cookies using this recipe for reference.
I could just eat the batter by the spoon...
The biggest change I made to the recipe was that I subbed all of the oil with pumpkin puree. It was a simple change that took these oatmeal cookies to the next level, both in terms if flavor and nutrient-density. I'm not a fat-phobe, but sometimes I want to indulge without the guilt, and plus, I prefer cookies that don't leave an oily film on my fingers.
Here are the cookies before going in the oven...
...and here they are after 15 minutes of baking. My apartment was filled with the aroma of pumpkin and cinnamon.
Here is the recipe with my modifications. I ended up having to halve these measurements because I only had a tiny bit of wheat flour left, which resulted in exactly 12 (smallish) cookies.
{ Ingredients }
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup oats
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tbs ground flaxseeds, mixed with 3 Tbs water
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (to replace oil)
- 2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
- 3 tablespoon soy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your cookie sheet.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a separate small-medium bowl, combine wet ingredients.
- Add the wet to the dry. Add raisins and walnuts. Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
- Form the mixture into cookies with a spoon or by shaping little balls and flattening them on to the cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 13 or 14 minutes.
They were chewy, pumpkiny, and just the right amount of sweet. I thought the addition of walnuts was also nutty genius on my part. ^^
Happy Weekend!