Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies // @veggiebeastblog #vegan #glutenfree

There have been some changes to this blog recently, and while I realize you probably didn’t notice, on the off-chance that you did, I want to give some context to those changes.

First off – I have many new vegan followers (hi! I’m so happy you’re here!) because I’ve been posting more vegan recipes lately, such as the one today (which I love, btw). To be totally transparent, I want to be clear that I am not completely vegan, but over the past several months I’ve eaten vegan meals and desserts probably 75% of the time. My family thinks that this change is a short-lived phase, and it very well might be, but it seems inauthentic to post things I’m not 100% excited about and ready to devour at any moment, ergo (did I just say ‘ergo’? yikes) the content on this blog has reflected my vegan shift.

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies // @veggiebeastblog #vegan #glutenfree

I think that I will continue to be an almost-vegan for a while, because dairy and eggs don’t interest me much at the moment, but since I’m not completely vegan there will likely still be some dairy and eggs showing up from time to time. I’m not a big fan of labels, so I hope you guys will accept the midway-me for the time being.

On that note, have any of you vegetarians tried the vegan route, or vice versa? Any vegans have some insights to share? My food self is very confused…and hungry.

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies // @veggiebeastblog #vegan #glutenfree

Now that we’ve cleared that up (ahem), let’s talk about nutrition information. I started including those stats after I wrapped up the cookbook, but I really struggled with that decision. I have been that girl that’s been obsessed with calories and fat, and the exercise it would take to burn off even the smallest indulgence. I know from experience that the obsessive thinking is not only very exhausting and hurtful, but it also takes the fun out of eating, and since eating is AWESOME, I didn’t want to support any kind of post-meal or dessert guilt.

While writing the cookbook, however, my co-author Kristen provided nutrition stats that surprised me – I was a couple years removed from my tiresome nutrition stat obsession, in fact I actively avoided them, but I realized that meant I really had no idea what numbers were in my food. I don’t really pay attention to calories anymore, but Kristen made me realize I had no insight into the sodium, carbs, or sugars I was consuming, and I personally wanted that information because I believe in embracing what you are eating, which means knowing the facts. After that realization, I had trouble weighing my dislike of calorie-counting with my support of knowing your food – it resulted in a difficult dichotomy, but ultimately knowledge won out…funny how knowledge does that, eh?

I share nutrition stats NOT because I want people to count calories – the opposite, actually. I want people to know what they’re eating, to know the information behind their food, and actively embrace it. Eat a cookie with oil and sugar and chocolate, and love every bite of it, because it’s delicious real food that you made and should choose to enjoy with all the information in front of your face.

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies // @veggiebeastblog #vegan #glutenfree

I figured there was no better way to share my nutrition philosophy than with one of my very favorite things: chocolate chip cookies. I’ve been eating these cookies every night for the past week, and yes, they stay soft for that long. These beauts are packed with chewy texture from oats and coconut, moisture from coconut oil, and hella-lot of dark chocolate chips. You can eat them straight out of your air-tight storage container, but I like them microwaved for 10-15 seconds so that chocolate gets drippy within those oat and coconut nooks and crannies.

Excuse me while I devour these calories, and love myself and my non-labeled diet with every bite.

Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and chewy cookies filled with oats, coconut, and melty chocolate chips! Easy to put together, plus they're vegan and gluten free!

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups gluten free old fashioned oats, divided
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened finely-shredded coconut
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 flax egg (1 T ground flax, 3 T warm water, let sit 5 minutes)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy free if needed)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Place 1 1/2 cup of the oats in a food processor or blender and process until a fine flour forms. Pour into a bowl and mix with the remaining oats, shredded coconut, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Beat together the solid coconut oil and sugar. Mix in the maple syrup and applesauce, then stir in the flax egg and extracts.
  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides as necessary. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough, shape into a ball, then flatten lightly with your hand (see picture #2 in post). Repeat with remaining dough.
  6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, let sit on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

If you have oat flour on hand, you may use 1 3/4 cup oat flour instead of blending 1 1/2 cup oats into flour.

If you want to lower the sugar in this recipe, you may reduce the chocolate chips to 1/2 cup, but I like chocolate :)

To make these gluten free, make sure your extracts are made with gluten free alcohol, or opt for an alcohol-free version.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size: 1 cookie, Calories: 192, Total Fat: 10.9g, Saturated Fat: 8.2g, Trans Fat: 0.0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 29mg, Potassium: 94mg, Total Carbohydrates: 23.0g, Dietary Fiber: 2.2g, Sugars: 12.7g, Protein: 1.8g

   

16 Responses to “Chewy Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies”

  1. michelle @ Boards&knives — April 7, 2015 @ 8:06 am (#)

    Congrats on your (possibly?) vegan transition! You’re on the right track, because you clearly already know how to veganize some delicious recipes like this one here. My advice? Listen to your body, try some making some dairy substitutes once in a while like cashew cream, don’t deprive yourself of the good stuff – like chocolate – and multivitamin supplements and b-12 helped me in the beginning. Good luck! Can’t wait to see more of your recipes.

  2. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar — April 7, 2015 @ 11:08 am (#)

    These cookies sound so delicious!! I am in love!

  3. Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health — April 7, 2015 @ 3:11 pm (#)

    Wow, these look insanely delicious! 

    As far as your vegan ventures, I tried giving up dairy and eggs for a week and it was so much harder than I thought it would be. I didn’t realize how much my digestive system relies on the probiotics in my daily yogurt or how awful cheese-less pizza would taste, lol. I think if I had more time to properly prepare myself for better alternative to replace those things than it would be doable. But for now, eating a vegetarian diet that’s mostly vegan is what makes me feel best. I just make sure to try and source my dairy and eggs from local farms that are certified humane.

    • Katie — April 13, 2015 @ 12:01 pm (#)

      Thank you for the comment! I found that eating mostly vegan was super easy and natural for a little while, and then one day I woke up with a fierce cheese pizza craving, and I’m just not willing to ignore that entirely, no matter how much I try to convince myself that cashew parm is a good substitute :) I agree with you – trying to make sure to source dairy/eggs from sustainable sources is what is most important to me, so with that in mind I definitely think a partially-vegan vegetarian diet is a good and balanced place for me to end up! :)

  4. Connie — April 9, 2015 @ 3:21 am (#)

    Holy Vegan cookie Thursday! These chewy choco oat nut chip are magnet. They have dialed my day in cosmic bliss! Thank you for this recipe!

  5. Rachael — April 9, 2015 @ 4:49 am (#)

    These look delicious! Can’t wait to try them! I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years (pretty much my whole life), but have tried becoming vegan a couple of times with little success.

    Lately I have been trying to just reduce the amount of dairy and eggs I consume, and have enjoyed that a lot more. I’ve really liked seeing more vegan recipes on your blog for this reason, although I also will continue to enjoy non-vegan recipes like your buffalo cauliflower sloppy joes, which I don’t think I could ever give up completely! Thanks again for all the amazing recipes!

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  7. Rachel L — April 15, 2015 @ 12:03 am (#)

    These cookies look phenomenal! I have pinned them and will make sure to give them a try when I need a healthy snack to nibble on.

    I’ve struggled with a calorie counting obsession in the past, and totally agree that nutritional information should be a guide that indicates what ‘real food’ really contains. Thanks reminding us all that calories are not the ultimate measurement of how healthy a food is!

    • Katie — April 15, 2015 @ 12:18 pm (#)

      Thank you for your comment! I’m so glad you agree about the nutritional information :)

  8. Jane — April 16, 2015 @ 5:04 pm (#)

    Just made these after I knew I’d recently seen a recipe with coconut and chocolate that’d fill my craving. Delish!! They were a bit wetter than your picture, probably because I used a real egg instead of a flax one, but still phenomenal. Thank you!

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  10. Stacey Rae — June 16, 2015 @ 8:38 pm (#)

    Hello! 

    These peaked my interest, so I decided to make them today- I am making them for my dad for Father’s Day. He loves oatmeal and chocolate chip. However, he is not vegan so I made this recipe with grass-fed butter and 1 egg. They turned out delicious. The only thing I did was back them a bit longer, as the inside of the cookie was still raw. :)
    Thanks so much for the yummy recipe! Yay!
    :):)

  11. Sam — June 28, 2015 @ 7:37 pm (#)

    These cookies sounded delicious so I tried them out. The batter was super wet but I took heart from Jane’s comment above and forged ahead — I did not add an egg as she did btw. I now have a dozen and a half of burnt on the bottom, somewhat raw, utterly unattractive but somewhat tasty cookies. Sigh.

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  14. Kar — January 24, 2016 @ 1:24 am (#)

    Made a batch of these bad boys because they sounded amaze-balls. Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the recipe and used the flax egg but my dough was super dry and would not bind. I had to squish everything together by hand or the cookies fell apart to dust. Advise for ensuring this does not happen if I try this again?? My coconut oil was solid, not liquid (f that matters).