Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday, on Indigenous Day – known to many as Columbus Day, I was in the mood to bake cookies. I had had a lovely stroll and picnic at Fairchild Tropical Garden earlier with my friend and my goddaughter and thought, there’s no better way to spend the afternoon than in my little kitchen. I began peeking in the fridge and cupboards for ingredients. As predicted, I was out of vegan butter (Miyoko’s European Style Butter is my favorite), flax seeds (used as an egg substitute) and non-dairy milk. Most of the recipes I found online called for those ingredients. I was up for some experimenting and embarked on a culinary challenge.

I suspect many people give up on cooking and baking because they think recipes should be followed to the letter. I can hear my sister right now tsking, ‘you should never omit ingredients – you’ll ruin the recipe.’ Not true.

I worked with what I had and was super happy with the result. So happy that I ate two or three, maybe four cookies and gave the rest away. Sharing is caring. Sharing also prevents a binge, which was very likely to happen if I didn’t find a home for the rest of the cookies.

So here’s what I had and here’s what I did.

OATMEAL COOKIE FIX WITHOUT THE FUSS

October 9, 2018

by Susie Belanger

Category Recipes

Ingredients

• Dry ingredients:
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup flour -any kind you like. This is your creation. I used organic white.
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• Wet ingredients:
• 1/4 cup coconut oil - if it's not in a clear liquid state, warm it through a bit
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 vegan eggs - 2 tablespoons chia seeds or ground flax in 6 tablespoons water (mix and let sit for 15 minutes)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• *organic ingredients are always best

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another.
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and combine.
4. Taste the batter. Uncooked oatmeal cookie dough is simply delicious.
5. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Add a little swirl of coconut oil and spread it with your fingers to coat the paper.
6. Plop the dough on there in 1.5 " mounds and smoosh each down with a fork or your fingers. Cookies won't flatten as they cook so do not omit this step.
7. Cook for 10-15 minutes. This batch took me about 15 minutes but all ovens are different so just watch 'em.
8. Enjoy!

I learned something new from this experiment –  chia seeds are a wonderful substitute for ground flax seeds in vegan baking. While chia seeds add an extra health element, you may notice that I don’t always opt for the healthiest ingredients. I could have used wheat flour instead of white, but I knew white would make for a better tasting cookie and my goal was to satisfy a craving. I subscribe to the 90/10 diet in which 90 percent of the time I eat healthfully and 10 percent of the time, I splurge. If you can even call a vegan oatmeal chia cookie a splurge (especially when I halved the recipe and gave half away ;)!

Enjoy your next cooking experiment and remember, there are no accidents, only research.

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