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!
nvmyu4ia
My kids loved them! Thanks
McKenzie Manning
These are fantastic! I did sub agave nectar because I had that on hand, rather than use maple syrup, and I thought they were to die for!
I am surrounded by meat-eating friends, even my boyfriend! So I am always quick to make food that everyone will enjoy. My boyfriend and I tried these cookies and he loved them so much that I am planning on making them for all of my friends this weekend. It is a simple recipe and we had a blast making the cookies. Thanks for the great recipe!
I was also looking at your mac and cheese recipe earlier. I am going to give that a try soon and considering how great your recipes have been so far–i am excited!
Stratosphear
(Various exclamations expostulating on your cooking holiness have been condensed into: ) Holy buckets, Susan…I only needed to see the title of this post to know that this is a recipe I'm going to try very, very soon. They sound FANTASTIC!
VEGAN TICKLES
You always come up with the best stuff!
austin homes
This is completely adorable. Wish I had seen this before Vday 🙂
Jennie Goose
I'm glad to see they do not contain soy!
Anonymous
i want to make these so bad! but i dont have any real maple syrup, i just have that aunt jemima light stuff. will using that affect them?
Susan Voisin
That will work fine.
Anonymous
You must write a cookbook! It would totally be a best seller
Mary
These look so good, and I've got some applesauce to use! I will try them with gluten-free ingredients this weekend. I'm thinking brown rice and millet flour…
vigorousvegan
Those look delicious! Will definitely try this recipe. 😀
STACEY
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind comment. I also love your site and am going to bake up some of your things very soon. I'm making baked falafel tonight that you might like.
My name is Marianna. I'm a stay at home
Thank you for posting this! I made this cookies tonight with my kids & they were a big hit. They don't like raisins in cookies so we added chopped walnuts. Next time I'll add dried cranberries too! We loved them!
meena meena
this recipe was pretty yummy! ive been looking for a cookie recipe to take with me to school to keep me alert and awake, these definitely did the trick! and since they werent all that bad for me, i dont feel guilty about eating one or two in class and coming home to my regular supper.
The Vegan Snorkeler
I have a sweet tooth, and I usually try to make my baked goods as healthy as possible. This recipe looks perfect for me!
Also, thank you for posting alternatives to chia seeds. I've never seen them around, but I do have flax seeds.
Mary
Hi Susan,
I made these gluten-free this afternoon and they turned out well. I used:
1/3 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup + 3 tablespoons brown rice flour (I kept adding tablespoons of rice flour until the dough seemed thick enough)
I also used applesauce instead of mashed banana. I didn't need to use xanthan gum to hold the cookies together. I think the maple syrup is sticky enough to do that. I did not flatten my cookies on the cookie sheet; they spread enough on their own. I think if you pressed the gluten-free dough, the cookies would be too thin.
The flavor is good, but healthy-tasting. Probably similar to your cookies made with whole wheat flour. Next time I might mix brown rice and white rice flour for a lighter taste.
Thanks for the recipe! I love oatmeal raisin cookies, and these are't as junky as the kind I usually make!
Real Life Montessori
I just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for a Sunshine Award! http://www.reallifemontessori.com/2010/02/sunshine-award.html
I've been following your blog for a long time and tried many recipes, thanks for the wonderful resource!
yari
I love oatmeal cookies, but I have always used a little extra-virgin olive oil. I'll definitely try your fat-free version, I'm so curious!
Rachel
These are good! My little sister doubled the recipe, used two eggs instead of the replacent, chocolate chips instead of the raisins, and a little extra flour. A keeper recipe! I love how healthy they are! =)
peteformation
Wooo, love the aroma of cinnamon and maple from the freshly baked cookies
Alyssa Willis
I will be making these with my daughter as soon as I get off of the computer! I hope she will love them. Thank you for the great recipe. Going to try to use honey instead of Maple Syrup. I know that isn't full vegan but I don't have Maple Syrup. Will this be ok?
SusanV
Alyssa, any liquid "sugar" should work, so I think honey will do fine. I hope you and your daughter have a good time making and eating them!
M D
You have a brilliant blog with amazingly healthy recipes. Love every post and recipe! It's a treat to be at your site.
Nicole, RD
Those look fabulous! I do believe I'll be making them this weekend!
Love your blog!!
MoMo
These cookies are so delicious! I made them 2 days ago and they are still moist! I had to do a 1/4 cup honey and a 1/4 cup maple syrup as I ran out of maple syrup and it just enhanced the other flavors. Thanks for the great recipe!
jess hoffmann
Tried making these on Sunday, gluten-free. Used GF oats and Bob's GF baking flour. I only had a small banana and also used agave in place of the syrup. Used the chia egg as well. The consistency was missing something. They were just ok, not great. I'd have to experiment a little more before I shared them with others.
fiona
Delicious, thank you!! I did use Cornflour instead of the egg replacer, double the banana as I love them, wholemeal flour instead of the white – plus about 2 tbsps extra to firm up the mixture due to the extra banana. Will definitley make again.
dreaminitvegan
yum, bananas, oatmeal and cookies. These are so cute shaped into a heart, hey oatmeal is good for the heart! lol!
Anonymous
I just made these and they were delicious. I used about 5 Tbs of agave (half regular half maple flavor) instead of maple syrup. I also used flax since I've been unable to find chia seeds yet. My husband didn't care for them, thought they were too healthy tasting. I thought they were perfect. Thanks for another great recipe.
Glo
soooo good!!! i'm eating these right now. so easy to make and absolutely delicious.
AppleC
whole wheat four and sweetened with maple syrup – perfect! However, I'd probably eat the whole batch which would put a wrench in the old "healthy diet" fan. Wonderful cookie.
Claire
Susan,
I made these tasty cookies and they were a hit with my vegan and non vegan roomies alike! Thanks for the recipe!
Claire
Anonymous
Hi Susan,
I've made several different versions of low fat vegan and then gluten free oatmeal cookies in the last year. But this was the first time I used a homemade gluten free mix instead of grinding gluten free oats for the flour part, and also the first time I'd ever used chia seeds in anything. I liked the results quite a bit. The mix I used was one I already had made consisting of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, quinoa flour, potato starch and a little xanthum gum. The suble maple-banana flavor of these cookies is really unique and delicious. The only problem is I can't stop eating them–hence some are now in the freezer. 🙂
thanks for a great new variation on an old favorite!
moonwatcher
Eco-Vegan Gal
Looks delicious, and the photo is beautiful! Most importantly, they're healthy – love that you mention more of what's NOT in them. : )
Sunflowerlady
Love your website. This recipe was great, I tried it today. May I have permission to put it on my own family/friend blog of new recipes I try. I would of course give you the credit and link to your site for more information. If you wish to view my blog before responding, here is my link. http://cookingonsandyhill.blogspot.com/ Thanks.
jasmine
delicious w/a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. i don't know why i feel the need to make such a healthy recipe less healthy, but, there it is.
Reactoss
Wow! i really can't believe I've never thought of using chia seeds as egg replacement before, that stuff gels like crazy, thanks for the wonderful tip and the cookies look incredible!
Becky-Dee
These cookies just came out of the oven and I am enjoying one with a cup of coffee at the moment. I made a couple of adjustments. I used one egg white in place of the chia seeds, instead of maple syrup I added one cup of cup-for-cup powdered Splenda and just under one cup of soy milk. They turned out very well! Thank you SusanV for such a great recipe!
Sweet
Hi Susan, these were delicious!! I made a few substitutions based on what I had at home (like spelt flour & brown rice syrup) and they were gorgeous. I added some orange zest and orange juice too so they were super fruity.
I hope you don't mind but I blogged about it (I didn't include the recipe, instead I linked to your site!).
If there's a problem with that, please let me know. Thanks and keep up the great work!
Aoife
Sweet
Oops, forgot the link! http://myadventuresinveg.blogspot.com/2010/03/me-want-cookies.html
Anonymous
I just made these cookies. I used flaxseed (no idea what chia seeds are and I hate egg replacer powder – it's so fake :(). I doubled cinnamon and substituted golden syrup for the maple syrup. I forgot (oops!) to add raisins – will do the next time (definitely gonna be next time).
The cookies turned out yummy, not too sweet (you can actually taste the salt). Straight from the oven they're soft and thick. My mum said they were a bit gingerbread-like 🙂
We had 14 big cookies, so fortunately there are some left for breakfast tomorrow 😉
Thank you Susan, for this wonderful, quick recipe.