Who would have thunk it that Cher from Clueless, who already had a pretty sweet life – like totally kissing on cutie Paul Rudd – could bake up a mighty mean cookie. Okay, so it’s the actress Alicia Silverstone who has this cookie in her vegan cookbook and it’s Oprah’s website that I have to thank for the recipe. This cookie not only has star power but it’s probably the best oatmeal cookie I’ve ever eaten in my life. Yup, I’m trumping it as The Best.
I wanted to satisfy a late-night cookie craving and these fit the bill. I was out of eggs, so a vegan recipe sounded perfect. The original recipe called for walnuts and dried plums (hmmm, does she mean prunes?), but I went with dried cranberries, coconut and pepitas which I think took this cookie over the top. Instead of using sugar, the recipe calls for maple syrup for the sweetness and I think this helps with the texture. The texture was perfect – crispy along the edges and chewy in the middle. Not only did they taste great, but they were easy to put together.
One quick tip. Instead of dropping the batter from a tablespoon, I found the dough was really easy to handle, so I just picked up a spoonfuls worth and rolled it between my hands into a ball. Each ball went on the cookie sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart from one another and I flattened each ball slightly with my fingers. I think this is why they look so pretty and are so evenly sized.
vegan oatmeal fruit & nut cookies
(recipe adapted from Alicia Silverstone)
1 c organic oats
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c brown sugar
1 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt
1/3 c maple syrup
1/2 c canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
1 t cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1/4 c dried cranberries
1/4 c pepitas
1/4 c unsweetened coconut flakesPreheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl mix together the first 6 ingredients (the oats through to the salt). Stir in the maple syrup, oil, vanilla and spices. And then combine the dried cranberries, pepitas and coconut. Use your hands to shape dough into tablespoon sized balls. Place balls onto a prepared cookie sheet, spaced 2″ apart and slightly flatten the balls with your hands. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until tops are slightly golden. Let cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 12 cookies.
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These look delicious! And I agree with you–dried plums are just a silly name for prunes. I like your substitution of cranberries/pepitas/coconut much better.
These look great, I can’t believe they’re from Alicia Silverstone! That’s so funny.
I love a good oatmeal cookie and these ones are so pretty too! If there was ever to be a great fall time cookie, these seem to fit that perfectly!
Ironic — I had a cookie eerily similar to this at a conference on breastfeeding I attended for work yesterday. It was a thick, cake-y oatmeal cranberry cookie with what I think was a hint of cinnamon and maple. Pepitas, especially toasted, never hurt a recipe, and I think just a touch of the unsweetened coconut would balance it all out. I thought about recreating the recipe from scratch, but now I’m set thanks to you!
Cheers,
*Heather*
I want these. So bad. Right now. With coffee, please.
These will be a breeze to de-glutenify. I’m going to substitute tapioca and sorghum flours for the wheat, but everything else sounds delicious as is!
Mmmm mmm mmmmm! These look GREAT. Pepitas, prunes (or dried plums, if you’re fancy) and cranberries?! Oh man, they sound amazing. They’ve got to be magical if you say they’re the best oatmeal cookies you’ve ever eaten!
Tasty, but mine came out flat as a pancake. I suspect that I accidentally used too much oil. Also I substituted cherries for cranberries and agave syrup for maple, but I doubt those caused the problem.
So I may have just licked my monitor. I am definitely making these this weekend.
Best ever? Those are some pretty bold statements, but I believe you. I love your choice of mix-ins! Oatmeal cookies are my favorite so these are SO getting made.
mmm making these tonight!
I wanted to tell you about shopping with ELS. I access a lot of sites via an RSS reader. I don’t know how you and your husband do it, but ELS is by far the most readable blog on my Android device. I can scroll down to the ingredient portion of a given recipe, and the list occupies about 70% of the screen. Your chosen colors, typeface, and layout mechanics (e.g. no need to move left and right while reading) seem optimally designed for mobile device reading. So I can glance at the screen, lock the device, shop produce, unlock, glance, etc. Well done.
The only cookies i make to eat myself are oatmeal.. and am endlessly looking for the Perfect Oatmeal Cookie.. so ..i am definitely going to try this recipe next.. thank you c
Dried plums sound much more elegant than prunes…perhaps more Hollywood! These do look great. I try and stay away from baking batches of cookies… but every now and then I am called upon to make “something”. I will make these ones the next time – thanks!
Thanks Gretchen – the subs are delicious!
I know, Ursula! It’s so funny but she has a vegan cookbook out and everything.
I agree, thanks Jacqui!
Heather, these aren’t cakey or thick, but they are chewy and crispy around the edges – in other words, perfect! I hope you like these just as much.
Coffee, yes, Meister 😉
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that Paige – I’m curious how the gf version would be!
Christine, I skipped the prunes but they are a great cookie with my own substitutions. Magical? Definitely 🙂
Robert, it could have been too much oil. The agave shouldn’t have made a difference. At least they were tasty!
Thanks Julia!
Joanne, I’m prone to best of statements, but these really are!
Alana, let me know how it goes!
Aw, thanks so much Robert – I actually haven’t seen it on an adroid device (we’re iphones over here), but I’m glad to know it’s readable and useful! Thanks so much!!
Cecilia, give these a try and let me know. I just loved them!
Hag, yes, so much more Hollywood. Maybe I’ll bring you a batch next time we meet up!!
I just read about something very similar over at Saveur!
http://www.saveur.com/article/Comix/travis-nichols-oatmeal-cookies
They are doing a special over the summer of one recipe comic a week.
These do sound great – I like that there isn’t an egg in it(I’m not vegan). I prefer using coconut oil instead of canola, so I’m going to sub that (plus it bumps up the coconut flavor). I don’t have a good oatmeal cookie recipe, and they are my husband’s absolute favorite. Won’t he be surprised!
Yum!!!! Such an easy recipe to make. I have pepitas in my fridge and have been wondering when to use them so this is THE perfect opportunity!
MadCalicoJess, love the recipe comix!!! Thanks for pointing me to them 🙂
Brenda, these would be great with coconut oil – I hope you and your husband enjoy them!
Yes, get out your pepitas, Bijoux, these are delicious!
Just a quick note, since it blew my mind when I found out, but prunes and plums are actually 2 different fruits. If you shop around you find both dried plumbs and dried prunes in the store.
There’s even a slightly confusing Wikipedia article about this.
I got to try a fresh prune recently in Hungary: http://shardinite.net/plugins/content/fboxbot/thumbs/20110730-DSC-1067_595x398_477ad1c60518222604c12a781a03515a.jpg
I just made these with my kids. We aren’t vegan, but making vegan cookies means I don’t need to worry about the kids eating the batter. They smell wonderful! Hopefully they’ll be cool enough to eat soon.
I haven’t made oatmeal cookies, in like forever, and now I simply must. I think the maple syrup and pepitas would really put them over the top!
I’ve actually heard really good things about her cookbook from vegetarian friends. I must admit that I’m a little scared of vegan cooking (a few forays to vegan restaurants did not sit well in my belly) but when it comes to cookies, really, how can you go wrong??
Thanks Guy for the info – who knew?? I know there are fresh prune plums at the market (which look like your photo). Hmmm!
Sandi, I hope you and your kids loved the cookies! Thanks for giving them a try.
Renee, break out of your oatmeal cookie desert and give these a go. So good!!
Yeah, I’m curious about her cookbook now too, Kasey. I’ve had many great vegan meals so I have no qualms trying out recipes. And these cookies are def amazing!
I made these this weekend and they were a hit. I didn’t have pepitas so i subbed sunflower seeds. Yum! I love that they are chewy and crispy at the same time.
I have a batch cooling now, they smell divine! I subbed in pine nuts since I’m out of pepitas. Did this really make only 12 cookies for you? More than double that here, and I used a pretty generous tablespoonful of dough per cookie.
Dede so glad you loved them & substitute away! Hooray!!
Yup, Janet, only 12 (though maybe 13 – I can’t recall). I remember not getting very many cookies out of it and being a bit bummed about it since they were soo good! Hooray for getting double the amount!
We made these for our playgroup this morning. I thought i would be coming home with some spare biscuits, but alas they were all eaten. They were a massive hit with both the little ones and us adults. Thanks once again.
All eaten is a good sign, Sascha! I guess you’ll just have to make up some more 🙂
I looove quick easy delicious vegan cookie recipes like this! And your description of the chewy middle and crisp edges sounds so good.
Ashley, I really loved these cookies & I’m sure you will too!
Delicious, but oh my goodness they were an oily mess – I could squeeze out the oil and it would drip from my hands! Did that happen to you? Did I do something wrong?
Theresa, nope that didn’t happen to my batch at all. Perhaps you missed adding the flour or maybe added too much oil. Mine turned out well – sorry you had troubles!
Theresa and I made the same mistake, we skipped the flour. When you publish the book, I’d suggest changing the first sentence to read: “In a large bowl mix together the first six ingredients.”
Robert F, I thought the instructions were clear enough, but obviously not! I’ve used your much more concise phrasing in the recipe. Thanks again!
What in the heck are pepitos? They look like the insides of pistachios or pumpkin seeds.
Christine, pepitas are the insides of pumpkin seeds – you can find them at most supermarkets.
Mine are in the oven as I type, smelling gorgeous!!!! Do you think I can freeze the cooked cookies for lunches?
Naomi, you can always freeze cookies! Just not too long – you don’t want them to be freezer burned.
i just made these … followed the recipe to the “T” … they were very thin and just spread out like a pancake. Tasty, but my hubby didn’t like that they were flat. Next time I’ll cut the oil in half.
Just made these and THEY ARE AMAZING. I used a little less oil and maple syrup and full disclosure…I subbed the fruit and nuts for chocolate chips. They were great!
Oh! Also forgot to say I used coconut oil instead. Long story short you can sub lots of different things and they still taste super good. This will be my go-to cookie recipe.
Omigoodness – I made these two days ago – they are wonderful!! I substituted half aquafaba for half the oil (followed the rest of the recipe as written here:-) – still moist and delicious 3 days later – thank you so much for sharing this!