Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was going to wait until next week to share this recipe with you, but I couldn't keep these cookies a secret so I just had to post it tonight. That and I'm procrastinating packing and cleaning my house before people come to see it in a couple days (we're moving to another part of the city).

These were a bit of an experiment to start, taking inspiration from this recipe and making them completely vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free. I wasn't sure right from the get-go how these would turn out, and it didn't help matters that I forgot to set a timer and thought I'd for sure burned them when I realized they'd been in for half an hour. But in the end, these turned out SO well. I'm even going to be bold and say that they might be the best (vegan, gluten free) cookies I've ever made! They're crunchy on the outside, and oh so delicious and chewy on the inside.


Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp allspice
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp hot water)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup gluten free rolled oats
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional, but delicious)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Start by making the flax egg, by combining freshly ground flax with hot water. Allow this to sit for a few minutes while you combine the dry ingredients. I made the "egg" in the large mixing bowl to avoid dirtying an extra bowl.
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the coconut oil and flax egg. My coconut oil wasn't melted so it doesn't matter if yours is or not.
5. Mix in remaining wet ingredients.
6. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, and beat until a smooth texture is reached.
7. Fold in oats and chocolate chips.
8. Spoon dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. They won't spread too much, so they only need to be an inch or so apart. 
9. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. The longer you leave them the crunchier they will be, so cooking time is up to your personal taste.

Notes

This was my first time baking with brown rice syrup, and I loved how crunchy it turned the cookies on the outside while keeping them moist and chewy on the inside. Brown rice syrup can be found at a health food store near the other sweeteners. If you're not worried about these being vegan, feel free to use honey instead.

My batch probably would have made 13 or 14 cookies, but I ended up eating the remaining batter once I had 12 cookies on my sheet. You could of course do the same (it was delicious, and egg-free so ok to eat raw), or if you have a large baking sheet you might be able to make your cookies a bit bigger.


I hope you are enjoying this pumpkin season as much as I am! Let me know how these turn out for you in the comments below, or over on Facebook!