Oat Delights!

Mmmm. Oat delights. Chocolately. Chewy. Oatey. (Oat-ey??!!) Ok, maybe oat-ey isn’t the best way to describe the deliciousness that is the Oat Delight! They are soft, yet chewy, dense and sweetly filling, and totally amazing if you eat them warm! Best of all, they are no-bake, naturally gluten free, and might just be the easiest cookies in the world to throw together!

My mom used to make these for my sisters and I all the time. When I was learning to cook, she used to let me help sometimes…and by help I mean scoop them out and drop them on wax paper when they were done on the stove, because as I mentioned here, I was not always the best cook! Even my scooping and dropping of the cookies was closely supervised

So the classic version was made with sugar and coconut. But one of my sisters (name withheld to protect the ridiculously picky) didn’t like coconut, so sadly, the rest of us had to go without! Come to think of it, that same sister is the reason I never got to eat a lot of delicious things…including “anything red.” Haha.

So I learned to love these without coconut, despite the fact that the original recipe called for it. Now that I cook them myself, I always make them with. The nice thing about these cookies is that they are totally customizable! If you are trying to cut your fat intake (particularly your sat. fat intake), you can leave out the coconut completely. Also, I don’t like to use regular sugar in my desserts, because it’s so highly processed. I prefer stevia or agave nectar. But if a recipe calls for a large quantity of sugar, I often opt for another granulated sugar alternative; one that is a bit healthier than sugar but will still have a similar texture. Typically for these cookies, I use a sugar replacement, like Xylitol, in place of all of the sugar. I choose xylitol because it seems to maintain it’s flavour at high temperatures. They taste the same to me, but not everyone loves sugar substitutes. If you want to just reduce the amount of sugar, I would recommend that you sub out half of the sugar (one full cup-recipe originally called for two) and replace it with 1/2 c granulated splenda or xylitol and 1/4 c agave nectar. It makes the cookies gooey-er, but hey, who doesn’t love a gooey cookie?!

Oat Delights (adapted from the original recipe by my mom! Makes two dozen large cookies)

• 2 cups sugar, or 2 cups sugar substitute, or 1 cup sugar + 1/2 cup granulated sweetener of choice + 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 6 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s)
• 1/2 cup vegan butter substitute, such as Earth Balance
• 1/2 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut milk or milk alternative of choice! I have actually used chocolate almond milk before, and they turned out amazing! You can’t really go wrong with extra chocolate!
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 3 cups oats (ensure that they are certified GF if you are celiac!)
• Optional: mini Enjoy Life brand Vegan Chocolate Chips. If you are using them, add them right before you drop them, or else they will be totally melted by the time you get them on the pan!

1.) Combine sugar, cocoa, vegan butter, and coconut milk in a large saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often, if not the whole time.

2.) Remove from heat. Add the vanilla extract, the shredded coconut, and the oats. It will seem quite thick and will be difficult to stir…but just keep mixing!

3.) Using a large spoon, drop cookies onto a pan lined with wax or parchment paper. They are supposed to be refridgerated until firm, but personally, I like them warm! Warning: they can get a bit messy that way!

These take only fifteen minutes, and are a crowd pleaser among both children and adults, celiacs and non. Did I mention that they’re oat-ey?!

Please forgive the iphone photography! I know, I know, so professional looking

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xoxo,

Jillian

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