Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (wheat-free*)

There is something oh so comforting about fresh-out-of-the-oven Peanut Butter Cookies. Even better when they are vegan. If you are not keen about turning on your oven in these warm summer months, then I have some tasty alternatives for you at the end of the recipe. The original recipe that I used and then vegan-ized can be found here.

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies 

3/4 cup ground oats or Spelt flour*

3/4 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup natural peanut butter **

1/2 cup agave ***

2 teaspoons vanilla
1 medium sized mashed banana

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients then stir into dry ingredients. Mixture should be wet; allow to sit for about 10 minutes and the ground oats will absorb some of the moisture. Roll into 1.5 inch balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press cookies down with dampened fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until bottom edges begin to turn a slight golden brown.

*This recipe can also be gluten-free if you use oats that are certified to be gluten free. Also, if you are not worried about the wheat, then whole wheat flour is fine (I used Spelt flour in the picture)

**In theory, this recipe should also work with almond butter, but I have yet to give it a try. Will let you know when I have.

***Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a lot of agave. If you want to cut back a bit, you can go as low as 1/4 cup, then add a couple tablespoons of non-dairy milk to replace the moisture.

Some Oven-Free Alternatives! 
We really like eating this as a cookie dough. I enjoy it topped on Raw Banana Chocolate Ice Cream. Also, you can leave it as cookie dough, shape into balls and roll in cocoa, carob powder or icing sugar (if you are not worried about the sugar). Cool finished balls in the fridge for roughly 3 hours before eating (or however long you are able to wait). Then enjoy!



Happy Baking.

Cheers!
-Laura

Chocolate Chip Cookies....vegan style

Show me someone who doesn't love classic chocolate chip cookies and I will show you someone who is completely crazy...seriously. Who doesn't love warm, moist, chewy, melty, chocolate chip cookies?

So, why do them vegan style? Well....the story goes like this....

Serving my family nutritional meals is very important to me, such that I have spent the last year scouring books to find how to serve my family home cooked, healthy meals that don't require me spending more time than I would like in the kitchen.

I found numerous books and internet resources on healthy living/eating that all said exactly what I expected to read; "eat a well balanced diet; low in fat, whole grains, vegetables, white meat and desserts in moderation"...pretty standard stuff. However, during my pregnancy the sight, smell and taste of meat or fish made me ill; anything with sugar gave me heart burn and, eventually, without intending to, we had become vegetarian.

Going vegetarian isn't an easy step to take, even if you plan to do it, so my search for nutritious meals got a whole lot harder. But, I love a challenge! (since then I have learned a lot more about nutrition and about how BAD meat and meat products are for you...not to mention how bad it is for the environment...but that's a story for another blog on another day..)

We loved having dinner guests over so that I could try out a new recipe and see what kind of reviews it got. Eventually, making vegetarian meals wasn't a challenge anymore and that's when I discovered these....

moist...chewy....and...wait for it...

gooey...chocolate chip cookies.

Yes, I know, there are hundreds of different chocolate chip cookie recipes and I had been making the one on the back of the chocolate chip bag since I was old enough to hold a mixing spoon. BUT, these were different. These had no butter, no eggs and no diary...also known as vegan. And they tasted just as good as (and possibly better than) their fatty, dairy counterpart. I was hooked.


So, I am going to save you a lot of trouble and just tell you...make these...your chocolate-chip-cookie-craving soul will love you for it (promise). There is even an option to make them wheat-free. These cookies are compliments of Dreena Burton, who has quite the talent for vegan cookies. You can check out the recipe by going to her blog here:
http://viveleveganrecipes.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html

Enjoy. And you are very welcome!

Cheers!
-Laura