Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

By GuidingVegan

Ingredients

• 7 ounces dates (about 12 Medjool or 24 Deglet Noor), pitted, and quartered
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ground into flour in a blender
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raisins (plus extra for the tops of the cookies)
• 2 ounces walnuts (about 1/2 cup), chopped (optional)

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 28mins
Adapted from straightupfood.com

Preparation

Step 1

Place the pitted dates into a small bowl and cover them with water. Set aside for at least 15 minutes so the dates can soften.

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a silicone baking mat on each).

Place all of the dry ingredients (oats, oat flour, baking powder, and cinnamon) into a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork.

Pour the water off of the dates into a small bowl or cup. Place the dates, almond butter, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons of the date-soak water into a blender, and blend until smooth.

Stir the date mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients until all of the dry ingredients disappear. Stir in the raisins and walnuts (if using).

To get the most uniformly sized cookies, use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop (or you can use a soup spoon). Place 8 or 9 scoops of cookie dough onto the baking sheet. These cookies will not spread out during baking, so using your fingers, press each scoop down until it looks like an already baked cookie (about 2½ inches wide). I like to push 2 to 3 raisins into the top of each cookie at this point.

Bake for 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and after 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the remaining cookie dough.