The Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever!

Sugar-free Oatmeal Apricot Walnut Magic

Did you ever notice that the best results are achieved when you don’t really care about the outcome? It is a strange phenomenon but ancient sages noticed it thousands years ago. They encouraged people not to be attached to the fruits of their work, just do the best they can and then let the universe take care of the rest.

Actually my thoughts were not as philosophical when I was planning to make some oatmeal cookies last night. While staying in Orenburg, Russia with my family my diet had to change a little bit due to the availability (mostly lack of thereof) of my regular staple items sucks as spinach, kale, and chia seeds. Here I switched mostly to red lentil soup, zucchini, cucumbers and some kefir. Besides this healthy fare, my friends and relatives were treating me with all kinds of cakes and tortes to celebrate my arrival. While all the cakes were incredibly yummy, they were very sugary and loaded with heavy cream. Eager to show my friends that tasty desserts don’t have to be unhealthy, I decided to make some healthy cookies. The only problem was that it is almost impossible to get some ingredients that most vegan or gluten-free recipes call for so I had to improvise.

The plan was to make the best out of what was available and use the ingredients that I could find at home to adapt Vegan Oatmeal Cookies from Oh She Glows. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much… To my surprise these cookies came out perfect and were a huge success among my friends!

Here is what I used:

– 2 cups dried apricots
– 1 cup raisins
– 1 cup walnuts
– 3-4 cups 5 grain oatmeal
– 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 1 cup kefir
– 1/2 whole flax seeds
– 1/2 stick of margarine (appr 1 cup)
chai masala (can substitute for cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves mixture)
– vanilla
– pinch of baking soda
– 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1 cup water

  • Soak apricots and raisins in hot water
  • Crush walnuts into small pieces
  • Soak flax seeds in 1 cup of hot water. Flax seeds will turn a little jelly-like and will serve as an egg substitute.
  • Cut apricots into small pieces
  • Mix gel-like flax seeds, soaked raisins, apricots bits, walnuts, kefir, vanilla, and margarine together. Separately combine oats, flour, baking soda and baking powder, and spices. Then combine both wet and dry ingredients.
  • The dough should be slightly glue-ey, not too liquid and not too dry. If too dry, add some water. If too liquid, add some more oat flakes.

Optional: add some sesame seeds

Pre-heat the oven to 175 F and grease the parchment paper. Make flat round patties about 2″ in diameter and place then on parchment paper. Bake for 25-35 min.

The cookies were crispy on the outside but chewy inside. They were not too sweet which allowed apricots and raisins to stand out. Walnuts got nicely roasted and added a beautiful flavor to the cookies.

My mouth starts watering while I write this. Ancient sages were right, good intention, an honest effort to do the best you can and some luck line the road to happiness and fulfillment. Time for another cookie!

What is your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe? I am in the baking mood!

Cookies love from Orenburg!

Nadya

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