After the success of egg free version of the classic chocolate chip cookies (both chewy and crispy), I wanted to try my hands on another American classic the "Oatmeal Raisin Cookies".
I didn't know then that it's going to cost me a lot of time and material to find the perfect recipe for an eggless version. I had one recipe in hand from a book called "Cookies". Also check out the full collection of Vegan Cookies.
Since I have baked earlier from this book, I thought of proceeding with a recipe from that book itself. Then I saw that it used 1 and ½ sticks of butter, so I thought why not search for a healthy version of the cookies and found one in the net. It used only 5 tablespoons of butter, if I remember right.
I proceeded with that recipe, substituting flax seed meal for the eggs in the recipe. I think I went overboard by replacing ½ the quantity of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, because the cookies did not taste any good. I guess it was because of too many substitutions.
After the failure of the first experiment I decided to follow a regular recipe (not the low fat versions) exactly, but only replacing the eggs. So as per my first plan I decided to go with the recipe from the "Cookies" book. Again I used flax seed meal here to replace the one egg in the recipe.
The dough came together and the cookies also looked like the store bought ones. I couldn't wait to taste the cookies. But this time, the sugar in the recipe messed it up for me. It was way too sweet, even for a sweet toothed person like my mother and myself.
I did see a vegan oatmeal cookie recipe in "The Joy of Vegan Baking" book, but it used steel cut oats and I was not able to find it in the grocery store which I go regularly. So I thought why not try a recipe from the "Joy of Baking" website! Found this recipe and I was surprised that the recipe which I had tried out earlier was the same, but for the quantity of sugar.
The previous recipe used 1 and ¾ cups of sugar, whereas this recipe used only 1 cup of light brown sugar. This convinced me to try the recipe because only the sugar was excess in the previous batch. I baked these cookies yesterday and am very happy that they came out very well.
Everybody liked the cookies, it tasted just like the ones from the bakery. Who said you need eggs to bake tasty cookies? We were not able to taste the flax egg at all. The cookies were chewy and tasted awesome. I can bet that nobody would guess that they are vegan cookies.
Recipe
Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ Cup Vegan Butter 1.5 Sticks, at room temperature OR regular butter, unsalted
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Count flax egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¾ Cup All Purpose Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon Salt I Used Only ¼ Teaspoon
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon I Used Only ¼ Teaspoon
- 3 Cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats I Used Quick Cooking Oats - Not Instant
- 1 Cup Raisins or dried cherries, dried cranberries, white/dark chocolate chips
- 1 Cup Walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Prepare 2 large baking sheets either greasing it or lining it with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. I used a hand mixer.
- In a blender, add flax seed powder and water and blend it until it's foamy.
- Add the flax seed mixture and vanilla extract to the creamed butter. Stir it well using a wooden spoon/spatula.
- In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine it well using a spatula.
- Now stir the oats and other optional ingredients you wish to include.
- Drop the batter by a table spoon 2 inches apart. I used an ice cream scoop.
- Wet your hands and flatten the cookies so that they are about ½ an inch thick.
- Bake it for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the centre is little wet.
- Remove it from the oven and let it cool in the baking sheet itself for 5 minutes. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool it completely.
My Notes
- I baked the batch with aluminum baking sheet for 14 minutes and the one in dark color non stick baking sheet for 13 minutes. The cookies were chewy.
- I wanted to try baking with vegan butter alternatives for long time now. So I bought Earth Balance Vegan Butter and tried this recipe with that, instead of regular dairy butter. I'm 100% sure that the cookies will come out good with regular butter also, because the original recipe uses the same.
Nutrition
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Sholeen Clarke says
Hello Madhuram
Thank you for this exceptional recipe. These biscuits are super yummy!!
I used all your ingredients as advised, the only exception being CHIA seeds instead of flax and the biscuits came out just right, there were no problems with crumbling at all. They held their shape very well.
I was wondering if I can store this in the fridge or freezer and if so for how long as it yields a lovely large batch which I’d love to split and bake through the week so we have fresh cookies as needed.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback, Sholeen. Glad to know that it works with chia seeds too. Drop the dough on a cookie sheet for individual cookies and place it in the freezer lightly wrapped with plastic wrap. After about 30 minutes remove the baking sheet from the freezer and transfer the individually frozen cookie dough to a ziploc bag and store it in the freezer and bake it whenever needed.
Chrissy says
I’ve made these several times now, exactly as written. Very good! This is a staple recipe in our house, now.
Madhuram says
Thank you for the feedback, Chrissy.
Vish says
The cookies came out perfectly chewy and yet crumbly around the edges. I made a few minor tweaks - substituted 1 cup of oats with 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour as 3 cups of oats might have been a bit too much to my liking. I also used brown sugar and instead of adding 1/2 tsp of salt, added 1/4 tsp of salt and added broken nuts from roasted salted planters nut mix. This is one of the best oatmeal cookies to come out of the oven. Thanks for the recipe.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome, Vish. Nice to know the variations worked fine for you.
Deb Perkins says
These cookies are amazingly delicious! One small change I made is that I used 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce instead of the flax egg. Oh and I did not grease my cookie sheet or use parchment paper. I just placed the formed dough right on the sheet. Came out perfect! They did not stick at all. Soft, chewy and yummy! I'll be making these often. Thank you so much for the recipe! A+
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Deb. Thank you very much for taking the time to leave your feedback.
Jacqueline says
I made these with coconut oil instead of the vegan butter, and they were much too dry. I hoped they would magically come together in the oven, but they didn't really. They were tasty, but they were very crumbly and reminded me a lot of granola clusters! If I were to make them again, I'd try adding two flax eggs instead of one.
Madhuram says
Or some more coconut oil.
Rhonda says
Wonderful, wonderful, tasty cookie! I followed the recipe and they are far better than I expected. Superior to the ones I bought at Whole Foods. The local Aldi store had "ground" flax seed, I was pleasantly surprised and glad I didn't have to hunt for them (whole or ground). Thanks Madhuram, for perfecting this recipe and sharing with the rest of us. I will make them again and again.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome, Rhonda.
Tegan says
Thanks for this fantastic recipe, Madhuram. I had to tinker with smashing whole flax seeds as I couldn't find ground flax in the only grocer in my town that's open on Sundays (and I don't have a coffee grinder or food processor), but these still turned out great. Clearly a very forgiving recipe!
Madhuram says
That's great to know, Tegan. Thanks for the feedback.
Shelley Medley says
I baked these for my daughter to carry back to college after her spring break. I used the flax meal in place of the eggs but did use butter. She loved them! maybe next time I'll try vegan butter.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback, Shelley.
Casey says
Made this and followed the recipe exactly. It was amazing! Next time, I’ll probably add a bit more salt because I like that salty-sweet flavor, but as is they are still perfect. This will definitely be my go to oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from now on.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback, Casey.
Archi says
We made this recipe using chocolate chips and walnuts instead of raisins. They turned out very very nice. Measurements and baking time were perfect, and the cookies came out soft but did not fall apart. Thanks for sharing such a good recipe.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome, Archi.
Amie says
Great receipe! I used coconut oil instead of EB and they are so good! Thank you!
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Amie.
Sheila says
I used several substitutions due to being vegan and gluten free. Used earth balance for butter and chia seeds in place of flax then subbed GF flour for AP, used whole grain oats. I baked one small tray and they spread all over the plan. I put the other two small trays in the freezer for 15 minutes, turned oven down to 325. Baked one tray, still spread out too thin. After the third tray was in the freezer 30 min baked with same result. Cookies would not stay together. Husband and son are not picky; they ate them anyway. Maybe too much tweaking.
Madhuram says
I'm guessing you might have used more fat than required. That's one of the reasons why cookies spread very thin. In general baking gluten free cookies by substituting gluten free flour instead of all-purpose flour shouldn't be much of a problem. Baking cakes, muffins etc like that won't give desired results because it needs rising. My guess is the quantity of fat.
Brandie says
I'm actually pretty sure it's the chia seeds that were your problem!! The flax is an agent that helps the cookies stick together. It HAS to be flax seeds. Chia seeds just don't do the same thing.
Joanne says
Great recipe! I substituted the butter with coconut oil and ground my flaxseeds. The oats made the mixture too dry, so I had to add some water. End result was delicious!
Madhuram says
Thanks for the feedback Joanne.