Vegan Choco-Chip Cookies

Vegan "Heart Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

 These cookies are great!  It's a weird cookie prep. process, and I was skeptical, but they turned out fantastic.  I found this recipe here, and made a just a couple adjustments.  I promise you, non-vegans will eat the hell out of these!  They are soft, chewy, flavorful...and much better for you than an original chocolate chip cookie.  I'm also pretty sure these are gluten free.  I did some research on oat products being gluten free, and found that oats, themselves, do not contain gluten, but are often processed in a plant that also processes wheat, barley, and rye products, which DO contain gluten.  Therefore, cross contamination with gluten grains can be a concern if one is highly sensitive to their gluten intolerance.  Basically, it's a personal issue if you feel oat products aggravate your Celiac Disease, or not. 


Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs. coconut oil (canola oil can be used)
  
• 2 cups raw walnuts (best "bang for your buck" at Costco)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ cups oat flour *
  
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt (VERY important)
  
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3 3.5-oz. bars bittersweet vegan chocolate, chopped, or 1½ cups vegan chocolate chips (12 oz.)

 * Oat Flour can either be made by processing regular rolled oats in a food processor until a flour like consistency is achieved (the method I used), or oat flour can be bought through a brand like Bob's Red Mill .  I'm pretty sure Whole Foods and Central Market have oat flour in their bulk sections, as well.




Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper.

2. Blend walnuts in food processor 30 seconds, or until ground into a fine meal. Add coconut oil and salt. Blend 2 to 3 minutes more, or until mixture has the consistency of natural peanut butter, scraping down sides of food processor occasionally.

3. Whisk together brown sugar and ½ cup water in small saucepan, and bring mixture to a boil. Pour brown sugar mixture over ground walnut butter, add vanilla extract, and mix in food processor until no lumps remain.

4. Whisk together oat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in separate bowl. Stir oat flour mixture into walnut mixture. Cool completely **THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! The choco-chips will melt, as you can see mine did a little, if you do not completely cool**.  Fold in oats, then chocolate chips.

5. Shape cookie dough into 2-inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry. Cool 3 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*I found the cooling was the important factor to this recipe.  I think the sugar/water mixture could be made  30 min. ahead of time, let cool, and then added to the walnut butter mixture to expedite this process.  It shouldn't matter whether the sugar mixture cools before adding to the walnut butter, or after.