These delicious fat-free oatmeal cookies contain no white flour, only oatmeal and whole wheat. Sweetened with pure maple syrup, they contain no added oil.
What can I say about these cookies? Should I start with the fact that they contain no white flour, only oatmeal and whole wheat? Or is it more important to note that they’re sweetened with pure maple syrup? Or should I remind you that since this is the FatFree Vegan Kitchen, they contain no added oil or margarine, only the fats that are naturally present in the oats and other ingredients?
No. If your loved ones are like mine, they won’t ask you about the flour, sugar, or fat; they just care about the taste. So when they come streaming into the kitchen, drawn by the warm aroma of cinnamon and maple, give them their freshly baked treats but keep the nutrition lecture to yourself. As they ooh and ahh over these soft, sweet cookies, smile, savoring the secret knowledge that you’re showing your love for them in more ways than they know.
A Few Notes:
The banana flavor is very subtle in these fat-free cookies, so even if you don’t like bananas, you might not mind it here. But, if you want, feel free to substitute 1/2 cup of applesauce for the mashed banana. The same goes for the maple syrup; you can use agave nectar instead, or any other liquid sweetener.
I used a mixture of ground white chia seeds and water to mimic the consistency of eggs, but I’ve included a couple of other egg replacement options that should work as well. I grind the chia seeds briefly in the blender before measuring them and mixing with water; it thickens in about 5-10 minutes.
To make the heart-shaped cookies, I placed a cookie cutter on the baking sheet, pressed the dough into it, and then lifted the cutter off.
I suspect (though I haven’t tried it) that you could make these fat-free oatmeal cookies gluten-free by using gluten-free oats and baking mix instead of the whole wheat flour. If you experiment, please post your results in the comments.
Hope you have a great Valentine’s Day. Spend it doing something you love!
More Fat-Free Cookies
Here are a few more oil-free cookie recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth:
Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon ground chia seeds or 2 tsp. egg replacer powder or 2 tsp. ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup regular or quick oats
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 banana , mashed
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the chia seeds (or egg replacer or flaxseed) with the water and set aside until thickened (no waiting is necessary if packaged egg replacer is used.)
- Mix the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl. Add the raisins.
- Add the maple syrup, vanilla, mashed banana, and lemon juice to the chia/flax/egg replacer mixture and combine well. Pour into the dry mixture and stir well but don’t overmix.
- Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Flatten each cookie slightly with a fork. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until bottoms and sides are lightly brown. Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack before serving.
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share!
Jennifer
February 14, 2010 at 2:27 pmYum, these look delicious! I am making them today.
Jessica
February 14, 2010 at 2:27 pmThese sound wonderful! I will definitely try these this week. Thanks!
Meg
February 14, 2010 at 2:33 pmHi Susan! These look delicious! Neither my husband nor myself are vegan, so I was wondering about the conversion of egg replacer powder to regular eggs? Are you using the powder to substitute one egg or two? Thank you!
Alexia
February 14, 2010 at 2:44 pmThis looks so good! I have plans to try this recipe this week.
Ricki
February 14, 2010 at 2:56 pmNow, these cookies REALLY say "love" to me–because they are made with such health-supporting ingredients! Perfect to give to someone you love today. 🙂 I hope to try these out w/ the GF option (and probably yacon syrup), which would mean I could actually eat them! (gotta love yourself, too) 😉
Janell
February 14, 2010 at 2:57 pmCompletely off topic, but still a cooking dilemma – We have a tomato plant that bit the dust, but produced a number of as-yet-unripe tomatoes (firm and green, instead of orange-red heirloom). We hate to just compost them. Any ideas for creating something edible?
Jennifer
February 14, 2010 at 3:06 pmThese look great Susan!
Jenn, HelloVeggie.Org
STACEY
February 14, 2010 at 3:12 pmThose oatmeal cookies look good, the heart shape is cute. I'm going to make these. I'm glad I found your site. I love to bake and I never use white flour, sugar, or butter. I also like to keep it healthy and natural.
http://stacey-healthylife.blogspot.com/
Vikki
February 14, 2010 at 3:19 pmI couldn't wait to make these! I didn't have enough agave so I had to use half brown rice syrup. The batter was a bit to runny and didn't hold the cookie cutter shape so I added a bit more flour – I could have let it set up a few minutes but didn't want to wait! They turned out great! I'm going to take these to a Valentine's Day get-together tonight – Thanks Susan!!
Allison
February 14, 2010 at 3:25 pmYUMMMMMMMM!!!! Can't wait to try these. Think I'll make a batch for my hubby's upcoming b-day. 🙂
Josiane
February 14, 2010 at 3:29 pmOh, these cookies remind me of a recipe that was an old favorite of mine, and which I haven't made in forever! I'll have to try your version soon!
Anonymous
February 14, 2010 at 3:30 pmI just made these– used ground flaxseed and Ezekiel flour, and they were fantastic! I love that the recipe only makes 18 so you don't have cookies coming out your ears– just enough to satisfy the sweet tooth. They had to bake for ~13 minutes in my oven. –Annie
Julie P
February 14, 2010 at 4:20 pmI've got these in the oven right now. I didn't have bananna or raisin so I substituted pumpkin and craisins. If these taste as good as the batter did, they are gonna be great. Thanks for the delicious and healthy treats!
Charlotte's Vegetarian Blog
February 14, 2010 at 6:37 pmOh man that looks good! I love how it's shaped in a heart too 🙂
DJ Karma
February 14, 2010 at 6:41 pmThese look yummy! I'll try them and compare to the fatty kind.
Michal
February 14, 2010 at 8:47 pmThese looks delicious! Your heart shaped one remindes me of Heart Thrives energy bars yum 🙂 Happy valentines day to you.
Noel Green
February 14, 2010 at 7:56 pmI just pulled these out of the oven and they are SO delicious! Just what I was craving!
I subbed date syrup for the maple. Susan, have you tried date syrup? I have been using Organics are for Everyone's date syrup and it is fantastic. It's the best liquid sweetener I have tried yet. Perfect for these cookies!
Thanks for the great recipe!
Alex
February 14, 2010 at 11:16 pmI just made these, before going to bed – couldn't wait till the morning. Used freshly ground flaxseed and whole wheat pastry flour plus 50/50 regular/light maple syrup. Took about 15 minutes in my oven but they look an taste absolutely fantastic. Bookmarked this recipe to my favorites. Thanks!
veggievixen
February 15, 2010 at 12:36 amso cuuuuute. i know valentine's day is cheesy but i like any excuse to use heart-shaped cutouts or extra special cupcake wrappers. i love the idea of these cookies, they sound so sweet and delicious, but not too over-the-top or loaded with sugar. yummmm
Anonymous
February 15, 2010 at 1:03 ami love your blog. i made your curry chickpea salad and loved it.
i was wondering about the egg substitute in these. if i just wanted to use egg beaters, how much would i use?
marisa
February 15, 2010 at 1:08 am@ Janel just leave them out at room temp. and theyll ripen up bythemselves. just make sure no moisture gets to them or theyll rot.
SusanV
February 15, 2010 at 1:15 amMeg and others wanting to use eggs–just use one (or the equivalent Egg Beaters).
Janel, I agree with Marissa. You can also ripen them quickly by putting them in a paper bag with an apple. That's what I did with the last of my green tomatoes.
Kristina
August 9, 2013 at 8:45 amMy egg replacer (bought in the store) is 1 1/2 t. mix plus 2 T. water. Wondering if you could update it to just say egg replacer equal to one egg… then might help people also who are not vegan asking how many eggs they should use.
The Bad Vegan
February 15, 2010 at 8:52 amthanks for the recipe susan! when my husband and i made these last night, we substituted agave for the maple syrup and they turned out so yummy and…muffin-y. we kept saying that if you close your eyes when you take a bite, you'd think you're eating a (hearty) muffin instead of a cookie. if you're using agave instead of maple syrup, you only need 75% as much (3/8 cup). this is what we did and they turned out perfect. they were yummy for breakfast this morning too!
Cherry Blossom
February 15, 2010 at 3:54 pmthese are adorable and will be baked tomorrow! What a smart little recipe… i have to send this to my sister Thanks so muhc for your Blog
Jacqueline
February 15, 2010 at 7:41 pmThese look great and you are just reminding me again of how to be sneaky! I know this defies the whole point for you, but if I want to use egg, instead of egg replacer, how much would I add?
Jacqueline
February 15, 2010 at 7:43 pmSo sorry Susan! I was in such a rush that I didn't read the other comments and realise that you have answered the question already! Just ignore me completely LOL 🙂
Heather Loves Healthy Vegan Recipes
February 15, 2010 at 8:17 pmIf people want to skip the wheat flour, I often grind some rolled oats in my coffee grinder to make oat flour. Works great.
AB
February 15, 2010 at 10:41 pmAfter reading this post last night, I ran down stairs and made these cookies. My fam could not say enough "mmmmm"s and "delicious!" about them. I used dried cranberries instead of raisins and added some coconut and nutmeg- fabulous. I made your 2 ways chocolate Valentine cookies from last year (I think?) and everyone loved those too- you rock.
Laina
February 16, 2010 at 12:22 pmSusan, I made these yesterday, but was disappointed that I couldn't open my maple syrup bottle. I keep it in the fridge.
So I had to improvise and used 4 medjool dates and filled the rest of the measure of water. I don't think they were as sweet as they could have been, but I did enjoy them anyway. I also added 1/4 cup of chopped nuts.
Dh came home and I asked him to open the bottle and he couldn't open it either. He hit the screw cap, as did I and still couldn't open it. hee hee He said to run it under hot water and I did. Felt stupid for not thinking of that myself. I just wanted to post this in case someone else has the same ordeal.
Thanks, Susan for making my and dh's life a little sweeter! 🙂
Literate vegan
February 16, 2010 at 8:16 pmI've been trying to make these but can't find any of the egg replacements you suggested anywhere nearby. Could I use a banana instead? Or any other people out there with egg-substitute ideas?! These just look soooo good!
SusanV
February 16, 2010 at 8:38 pmTry using another half a banana instead of the egg. It should work and will give it more banana flavor.
DnJ
February 16, 2010 at 10:02 pmHooray! we're two months in to a vegan-all whole grains-no white/processed sugar total lifestyle change. Loving it, but I miss cookies. Hopefully these are as good as the hype. Banana allergy in the house here so we're going to try the applesauce variant OR experiment with an avocado (fat, fat, fat, but good fat for us)
keep up the blog!
Jen
February 16, 2010 at 10:15 pmI made these tonight (using the flaxseed) and they were delish! Thanks for sharing. I put a link to the recipe in my last blog post, which I assumed was okay since I didn't re-post or print the recipe – just directed people to you.
moonwatcher
February 16, 2010 at 11:32 pmHi Susan,
these look great–I would like to experiment with the chia seeds sometime, so maybe this wil be it. Like another person posted, the easiest way to make these gluten free is to grind up gluten free oats in the food processor or blender to make oat flour. I've done that successfully with other vegan low fat oatmeal cookie recipes. I love the idea of heart shaped oatmeal cookies, since, besides being appropriate for Valentine's Day, it celebrates that the ingredients are so heart healthy!
Thanks,
moonwatcher
ps: and to the commenter who mentioned the discovery that hot water will loosen the cap on the maple syrup bottle, I've been there, too. . it was my son who enlightened me. Good of you to pass the tip on! 🙂
Kara1
February 17, 2010 at 2:48 amI made these immediately after reading this recipe! Not only are they delicious and healthy, my home smells deliciously mapley and cinammony 🙂 I look forward to enjoying them with my morning tea! Thanks Susan!
Sophie
February 17, 2010 at 7:07 amGeorgous cookies!
These look really tasty & so appetizing too!
You have a Grand blog!!
I cook with meat & fish but I also cook a lot of vegetarian food!
You are an inspiration!
Achmad Taher
February 17, 2010 at 1:20 pmhai … I'm from Indonesia, after I look like very good meal, there are some foods that almost the same as here … okay greeting of friendship. please visit my blog
Meredith
February 17, 2010 at 1:31 pmI made these last weekend & they are delicious! I love the texture–very chewy but still soft–but I adore oatmeal flour so I'm probably biased. I added walnuts, which add fat but the good kind, plus some protein. I think they're more filling that way. I have been eating these as my breakfast this week–yum! However, these made only ten cookies for me, not nearly 18, & I don't think they're even that large. Maybe I just like big cookies. 😉
Tania
February 17, 2010 at 1:54 pmWow! Let me just say YUM!! This is my first time coming across your blog and you have so many amazing recipes! I'm not vegan, but I'm trying to eat more healthily and incorporating some of your recipes into my diet will definitely help. I'm looking forward to delving into your recipes a bit more.
Heather
February 17, 2010 at 3:14 pmThese are GREAT!
A perfect treat–either during the day or for breakfast!
I used whole wheat pastry flour. Yum!! Thank you for another amazing recipe 🙂