oat and chocolate chip cookies

Everyone, in my (very) humble opinion, requires a good chocolate chip cookie recipe in their arsenal. It’s essential for moments like: stressful assignments, tea dates with friends, sudden bouts of flu, and generally whenever something satisfying is required.

And, I don’t know about you, but here’s what I think a good choc-chip cookie should provide: crispy edges, chewy centre, vanilla-scented dough, generous hunks of chocolate. These cookies tick all the boxes, and they get a double thumbs up for me, especially from the oats making the centre extra-chewy.

I’m pretty sure you should go and make these cookies right now. Find an excuse: I always do.

Oat and Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 24 cookies

Recipe notes:

• If you’re not bothered about wheat flour, substitute 1 cup plain flour for the mix of flours I use here.
• It might look like a long baking time for cookies, but trust me, you want them to be crispy and golden.
• To make one flax egg, combine 1 tbsp flaxseed (linseed) meal with 2 tbsp boiling water. Whisk with a fork and set aside for 10-15 minutes before using.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup white rice flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 1/2 c raw sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 flax eggs
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 80 g (about 1/2 cup) chopped dark chocolate (I used 70%)

Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F) – no fan. Line two baking trays with baking parchment. In a large bowl, combine oats, flours, sugar and baking powder. Whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine flax eggs, margarine, and extract. Use a fork or a spoon to mix thoroughly. Add wet mixture and chopped chocolate to dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or your hand, until combined.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out level tablespoons of cookie dough onto a baking tray. Distribute dough evenly onto trays. Roll the scoops of dough into balls, and press down each ball with your fingers to flatten. Bake for 23-25 minutes, until cookies are golden brown.

cashew and oat cookies

These, friends, are the cookies you make when the thought of baking is just too much, or when you don’t have the right ingredients, or just when you want something straight-up delicious. Cookies you don’t have to bake? Yes siree. Right here.

I was totally blown away by these: the flavour is sort of like a nutty-oatey-caramel thing, with just a salty zing thrown in there for good measure. You could almost eat them for breakfast (and honestly, who wouldn’t want to eat cookie dough for breakfast?).

Adapted from a recipe at Oh, Ladycakes (my love for this blog knows no bounds – truly, truly wonderful), these are the sort of treats you forget are in the freezer, then you find them and get to relive the experience of tasting them all over again. These are cookies that make me feel good, they’re happy and solid and comforting. If ever a cookie could be reassuring, this one could.

If you haven’t ventured into making your own nut butters, I highly recommend a voyage. You’ll never look back once you’ve started. And roasted cashew butter? First, roasted cashews smell like baking bread. Call me crazy, but that’s what my kitchen smelt like the morning I made these. Second, once you’ve made the butter, it’s all you can do to stop yourself from immediately consuming it on a vast amount of toast. It would also be a great on apples I feel, or with sticks of celery.

One of the most satisfying things about making nut butters is the ease with which you can make them – so quickly can you make something I know I, at least, used to take for granted at the supermarket. It’s a small pleasure that I really love, and enjoy. (Like these cookies.)

Lastly, this weekend is our wedding (eep! hooray! too many thoughts!). Next week we’re in Melbourne (yippee!) for a honeymoon getaway. I’ve got a recipe lined up for you, and I can’t wait to share photos of the wedding and holiday.

Cashew and Oat Cookies

makes about 25

adapted from Oh, Ladycakes

Recipes notes:

• You could also make these with peanut butter (or even almond or hazelnut butter? sunflower butter?), but honestly, this cashew version is the shit (in my opinion).
• I prefer to store these in the freezer, and eat them straight out of the freezer, because they’re really chewy and toothsome that way.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup roasted cashew butter (see below)
• 10 medjool dates, pitted
• pinch of salt
• 6 tbsp warm water

In a food processor, process oats and salt until a fine meal is formed. Add dates and cashew butter. Blend for 45-60 seconds, until the dates are broken up and even distributed. Add water and pulse until combined. Using a tablespoon measure, measure out portions of the dough. Roll into balls, then press with a fork. Place in a tray or on a plate and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. Stored in an airtight contained, they will keep for a week in the fridge, or a few months in the freezer.

Roasted Cashew Butter

makes ~3/4 cup

Ingredients:

• 250 g (~1/2 pound) unroasted cashews
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 tbsp olive/sunflower/coconut oil

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Put cashews on an oven tray and roast for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. In a food processor, blend cooled cashews with salt, until a fine meal has formed. The cashews won’t get really oily and buttery on their own, so add 1 tbsp oil and pulse thoroughly to combine. If you’ve reached a texture you’re comfortable with (I aim for spreadable but firm) stop there, or add more oil if desired. Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, cashew butter should last 2 weeks.