So now that you have seen my daily schedule, you probably understand that any cooking beyond the microwave is nearly impossible during the weekday. Because of this, I do almost all of my recipe development and time intensive cooking on the weekends while Casey is home to help out.
My goal is always to get at least two solid recipes done each weekend, so that I can share them with you the following week. This past weekend though, we bought and decorated our Christmas tree, went grocery shopping, cleared off our to-do list, and before I knew it the weekend had disappeared and I only had one recipe finished for you guys. Recipe fail, but I DO have a decorated tree, and I’m calling that a personal win with a baby in the house.
I may be short this week, but I’m also lucky enough to have a recipe to share anyways. The lovely Madison made a delicious vegan cookie recipe, that would make a great addition to any holiday cookie exchange! Thank you, Madison!
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Hi Daily Garnish readers! My name is Madison and I share vegetarian recipes and stories about my life as a wife, puppy mommy and food editor over at Espresso and Cream. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be sharing a guest post with you today while Emily spends some much deserved time celebrating and enjoying her new family of three.
Growing up in Iowa most of my life, the idea of being a vegetarian seemed like a completely foreign concept. It wasn’t until I started reading Emily’s blog, back when it was still The Front Burner, that I realized how approachable, flavorful and healthy a vegetarian lifestyle could be.
Although I’ve been a vegetarian for almost two years and occasionally eat vegan meals, vegan baking has always seemed like a daunting task. Like Emily said recently, most of the time, vegan baking recipes call for ingredients that I don’t have sitting around in my pantry when the craving for a cookie or piece of coffee cake strikes. But when I stumbled across this little gem of a cookie recipe from the New York Times food section, I knew I had to try it.
What really drew me in what the fact that it starts with an over-ripe banana, since we always seem to have a couple of those at our house. The banana is then mixed together with other easy-to-come-by ingredients like rolled oats, whole wheat flour, sugar, canola oil and milk chocolate chips (although raisins would be equally amazing).
My hubby gobbled these cookies up in a matter of days and has already been asking when I am going to make them again. Seeing as that this recipe is so darn easy, I’m more than happy to oblige. I hope you find time to give this recipe a try and find it as amazing, and easy, as I did!
Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from the New York Times Vegan Banana Everything Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 very ripe medium banana, mashed
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (vegan, if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the mashed banana, sugar and oil. Stir until well combined. Add in the vanilla and salt.
- Stir in the flours, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon, stirring until well combined. Add in the oats, pecans and chocolate chips; stir until just combined.
- Using clean, slightly damp hands (and re-wetting as needed), roll dough into balls slightly smaller than a gold ball. Flatten slightly with your hand. Transfer to baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
50 Comments so far
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Those look so good!
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I love Madison’s blog, Espresso and Cream! Her food always looks so delicious!
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Hi Madison! So excited to see you on Emily’s blog!! And this is the first vegan baking recipe where I have ALL the ingredients! So excited to make these!
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Literally, everything from the NYT is magical and made of sprinkles.
Love dem oatmeal cookies.
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I love that picture of you and Cullen! And such a pretty tree!
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I love the Seattle poster in the back ground of the first picture. I spotted on in Annies in Ballard when I was there in October and I regret not picking one up. I think I was concerned about shipping it home to Ireland. :( Ah well.
Happy Christmas!
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These sound perfect and also look incredible. Who need dairy? :)
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These cookies look awesome, Madison!
Emily – I give you major credit for blogging as much as you do while being a new mom. Your daily schedule is INTENSE.
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I am super impressed with what you’re doing with a newborn!
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Those look incredible! I love chocolate chip cookies with lots of “stuff” in them and these totally deliver :)
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I have to bring a dessert to a work party on Monday and have been trying to decide what to make. These sound perfect!
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yum! those look great!
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ah, just made oatmeal raisinet cookies for work last night! Delicious but I’ll have to try this version next!
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These look AWESOME, but I’m a little confused. The directions say add baking powder but there’s no amount listed in the ingredients. How much should we add?
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The cookies look wonderful! I need to make these, I love how healthy they are!
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Aimee – so sorry for the confusion! There should not be any mention of baking powder in the instructions! Just the baking soda listed in the ingredients. :)
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Thank you, love new recipes for vegan cookies!
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Shared!
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These look delicious! I love the banana in there, we always have some of those laying around too. Thanks for sharing Madison!
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making them. for sure!
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Hi Emily, I’m making these right now, but I’m confused on which ingredient I’m supposed to use. Baking soda is in the ingredient listing, but baking powder is in the directions.
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Madison @ Espresso and Cream Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Hey Angie. Madison here! So sorry for any confusion! Please disregard the baking powder and just use baking soda (as the ingredient list states). I called for both baking soda and baking powder in the instructions on accident. :)
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Angie Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 9:01 am
Thank u so so much for your prompt reply.
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Wow, these turned out so good, even though I cut back on the sugar and oil a bit and added some pumpkin, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice. I also subbed sliced almonds for the pecans, since that’s what I had on hand. I also just used 1/2 the amount of chocolate.
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I came over from Madison’s blog and love this recipe! Will definitely be making these soon.
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These looks delicious, Madison!
I am so impressed with how much you have been able to blog, Emily, especially after reading the daily adventures with a 7 week old baby! You definitely don’t need to aplogize for the number of recipes you’ve given us – I enjoy reading anything you post, whether it’s recipes or cooking tips or baby stuff or just life! :)
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Baby Cullen in one hand and Christmas star in the other…way to Mommy multi-task! Hope you’re enjoying your first holiday season as a family of three!
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Hi, Madison! How nice to see you on Emily’s blog. The cookies look delicious.
Emily – I have such admiration for you (and all other moms out there!) with a baby and multitasking like you do. Keep it up! :)
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These are from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar; don’t know how the NYT got away without crediting Isa and Terry…that said, I’m sure they’re great since everything else I’ve made from that book is great.
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I love that picture of you two and the tree! You guys are going to have so many good pictures of him growing up!
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I absolutely love the idea of using up bananas this way! Sometimes I just have one going south, not enough for banana bread. Can’t wait to try it!
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These cookies sound great, Madison! I love that, like you say, they call for ingredients that are normal things I have around the house.
Emily, what a sweet photo of you and Cullen putting the star on the tree. And such a pretty tree, too!
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I am literally going to make these right now. YUM!
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These cookies look delicious! And I love the picture of you and Cullen by the tree.
P.S. I had already thought to myself that Cullen looks a bit like you but I see it even more now that you posted it. :-)
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Emily, Congratulations again, and the blog is great. Just wondering…would Casey do a guest post on what it’s like to be on his end of the newborn situation? I’m probably in the minority, but just thought it may make for good reading. Happy holidays!
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Hi Emily!
I have a baking exchange with my boyfriends mom and sister this year for Christmas and I came upon these Vegan Choc Chips cookies. I made them last night and I think they are the best cookies I have made yet! And I bake… a lot ;)
Thanks so much!
Metaxia
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Yum, these look good. Do they have a strong banana flavor or is the banana just used as a binder?
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Stephanie Reply:
January 1st, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Hey Lexi – I sub’d applesauce for banana and they held together fine. I used one snack pack of unsweetened applesauce (equal to roughly 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs. FYI: We keep the snack packs in our pantry for baking.
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These are so good! And a great way to use up ripe bananas since I’m not a fan of banana bread. Ours only qualify as ‘vegan-ish’ – partly because I didn’t use vegan chocolate chips, and partly because I washed them down with a glass of milk….
@Lexi – they have a mild banana flavor, which may be less noticeable when they cool. Ours are still warm, so I can’t be completely sure.
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Found you from pintrest. These turned out too dry for my family’s taste. Any suggestions? I was thinking about no sugar added applesauce.
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Yum, the cookies sound great. Can you do a post on oatmeal for those who don’t love oatmeal? I know putting uncooked oatmeal into my food processor makes an oat flour. Where are the best places to sub this? I’ve made cookies, but I’m wondering — smoothies? sauces? curries?
While I’m here, I’ll drop this recipe to you that I made the other night:
We made it with shrimp and rice, but I’m sure it would be great with just about any protein…esp tempeh.
1 c roasted & salted pepitas
1 red bell pepper
2 medium tomatoes
1 seeded jalapeno (canned)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil
puree pepitas, set aside
chop/seed and puree all veggies and then mix with pepitas
(You can do this all together in a food processor, but I was using the magic bullet, so I did it separately.)
Cook for 5-7 mins over med heat with the 2 tbsp of olive oil.
If it is too thick, add a 1/2 cup of water or get creative — use coconut milk.
salt & pepper to taste, garnish with more cilantro
Add your cooked protein and pour over cooked rice or any grain or rice noodle.
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Currently have these baking in the oven!! Can’t wait.
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[...] idea after an utterly exhausting weekend. I was ready to pass out, but he went ahead and found this recipe, that he followed pretty closely to make, quite possibly, the most delicious vegan cookies [...]
Okay, what on earth is a “gold ball,” and how is that any measurement? My guess was a golf ball, but still…
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Emily Malone Reply:
June 4th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
I assume the guest poster meant golf ball. Thanks for pointing out the typo.
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Just made these. Delicious. Note: definitely use parchment paper or something. They stick.
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I just made these for a party tonight. I ate two of them before they could even cool! I just hope they can survive the car ride over :) Thank you so much!
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Emily Malone Reply:
November 2nd, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Yummmm. Hope your party guests enjoyed them too! :)
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Delish. And not too sweet either!
I used a snack pack serving of unsweetened cinnamon apple sauce since I didn’t have a banana (and then skipped the cinnamon in the recipe), and crushed up my pecans before mixing them in since I like the richness of nuts, but not necessarily biting into one.
Thanks!
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Nice recipe . I am going to try it out as we dont eat eggs. Can I substitute applesauce for the banana? If so how much?
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