vegan almond oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

The past few weeks/months, I've been thinking about making a big lifestyle change and going vegan. Seeing that I live in a family who cherishes meaty dishes and cheese plates, this is kind of a big deal. BUT I barely eat dairy anymore because of my allergies, meat has started to gross me out, and I only eat eggs on occasion. I'm pretty convinced I could live off of fresh fruit for the rest of my life. It just makes sense for me. I know that a vegan lifestyle isn't for everyone, but healthy living is unique for each and every person. I'm not planning on skipping big holiday dinners with my family, but the other 361 days of the year, I'm planning on sticking to it because it makes me feel good and happy. 

My family is still kind of on the fence about it, but I'm old enough where I thiiiiiiiiink I can make my own decisions regarding how I fuel my body. I'm determined to show my family and friends that healthy eating doesn't have to suck and taste like twigs and dirt. Although I've done a lot of experimenting with vegan baking over the last few months, I've decided to go on a search for some standby base recipes and I'm pretty sure these cookies are a great start to my repertoire. 

The other day, I had a HORRIBLE baking fail that resulted in me crying like a baby, eating puddles of cookie mush, and then skipping dinner that night. Not to mention, tons of my precious coconut oil and fancy dark chocolate I got for my birthday died and went to garbage can heaven. Needless to say, it was not the best day. Thankfully the next day, I had a better idea of what I needed to do (less oil. more flour.) and everything turned out swimmingly. WAIT, I LIED. More than swimmingly. These cookies are honestly some of the best things I've ever made. They're not exactly the healthiest (I was out of maple syrup and honey), but they're definitely not loaded with a bunch of simple carbs and fattening butter. Vegan or not, make these cookies. Not to be bossy or anything, but seriously. 

P.S. It's national chocolate chip cookie today so I should be getting some sort of award or something for actually posting A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE on NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DAY. 

vegan almond oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

1/2 c. softened coconut oil

1/2 c. dark brown sugar

1/4 c. white sugar

3 tbsp. nondairy milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 c. wholewheat flour

1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. quick cooking oats

1 tsp. baking powder

pinch of cinnamon (optional)

1/4 c. dark chocolate chips/chunks

1/4 c. chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. in a large bowl, whisk coconut oil, sugars, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add flours, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon, stirring just until combined. Gently fold in almonds and chocolate chips. Scoop onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown. Yields about 15 cookies.

mini almond snickers bars

boyohboyohboyohboyohboyyyyyyyyyy. SNICKERS FOR YOUR FACE. They're raw, healthy, vegan, gluten free, tiny, naturally sweetened, delicious, and really magical. Oh, my heart. BUT they're healthy you guys! So that means that when you have them all out of the freezer to take pictures of them like the weirdo that you are and they get all melty and messy, you just eat them. It makes cleaning up a whole lot easier, ya know? Oh man you guys. These are so good. I may have had like 5 already today, but its taking every ounce of self control {left} in me not to go ravaging through the freezer and shoving two at a time in to my pie hole. MMM. 

It's been ages since I had a legit Snickers bar. The last time I had one I was probably all looking like a toothpick, red, and pimply. Although I could easily have one since they have them at the grocery store here, I honestly won't. Too much sugar and gross things in there, it scares me! Oh how I've changed. When I gave these to my family to try, my dad asked if they were real. Hmmph. Well if "real" means full of processed sugar, chemicals, additives, and fake flavoring, then no. They're not real. But if by "real" you mean birthed from the earth {ew, sorry.}, then YES. They're real. So real. 

I'm not sure I have my family 100% convinced. My little brother is the pickiest eater and when I said there were dates in them, he spit it out. Not because he thought it tasted bad or he sensed something weird in there. Just because I mentioned there was fruit in his chocolate bar. My bad. I made these bars twice- first time around, I had no patience, cut them like 8 hours before I should have, and things got oozy and cracked. It was like a caramely murder scene. Second go-round, I had my method all thought out and things went way better. Until I realized we were clean out of peanuts. NOOO I NEED MEH NUTSSSSSSSSSSS. So I compromised with almonds. I was all freaking out like "WHAT! I CAN'T PUT ALMONDS IN THESE AND CALL THEM SNICKERS! THAT'S LYINGGGGGGG!" But my mom lovingly assured me that almond snickers are indeed a thing and all was well in the world. 

mini almond snickers bars {vegan & gf}

yields 14 small squares

date caramel

1/2 c. chopped dates, tightly packed

pinch of sea salt

splash of vanilla extract

1 tbsp. pure maple syrup

shortbread

1/3 c. chopped dates, tightly packed

3/4 c. oats

2 tbsp. pure maple syrup

chocolate coating

1/3 c. melted coconu oil

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp. pure maple syrup

1/3 c. raw almonds {or peanuts}

Prepare the date caramel: In a kettle or sauce pan, bring water to a boil {enough to submerge the dates.} Place dates in a small bowl and submerge in water, soaking for 5-10 minutes until soft. Once softened, drain the dates preserving the date water. Add dates to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Depending on the strength of your processor, you may need to add some of the reserved water to get things moving. 

Prepare the shortbread: Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse until combined. Press into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Top with date caramel, spreading evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with raw almonds. Place in freezer for 6+ hours or overnight. 

Slice into 14 squares. And place back in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate coating by whisking all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth, letting sit for a few minutes and allowing to thicken slightly. Remove bars from freezer and dip in the chocolate individually, placing onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place back in freezer for 2+ hours or until set. Store in freezer. 

cinnamon spiced cocoa granola with toasted coconut & almonds

Ok, so before we get fly into chocolate and granola and all this greatness, I have a little bit of wisdom to share. Lame, I know. But bear with me… I reward with food. 

I seriously love walking to and from the gym, especially with the cold, rainy weather we've been having. Those short walks give me time to actually hear myself think {two brothers and a baby in the house. NOIZEEE.}. And the other day, I had this divine revelation… Or as my mother called it an epiphany if you wanna get all fancy-wordy-pants. 

On the way home from the gym, I was going over in my head what I had done for my workout that day. It wasn't much; I didn't do a million reps of a trillion sets of a zillion exercises {if you can do that, I applaud you.} But what I did do, I felt like I did really well and felt super good about it. I'm trying to apply that concept to every aspect of my life. 

To my school {my grades. Ugh.} I get so caught up in the amount of school I have to get done rather than focusing on how good I do. Plus the fact that I'm supposed to be done with 10th grade in March… I can slow down if I need to. To my devotions- it doesn't matter how much time I spend in the Word, but that the time I do spend is good and I learn something from it. You can spend hours upon hours with your nose in the Bible and not get anything out of it. But you can also just spent ten minutes or so reading and in prayer and come away from it feeling refreshed and renewed. To my friends- I seriously have no friends. People just suck and people move to other countries. But I'd rather have ZERO friends than a bunch of crappy ones. To my blog- I really need to work on this. But only posting the recipes that were top notch and with good photos. In the blogging world, you get so caught up in what everyone else is doing. "Oh she posts 6 times a week, so I should too." What works for other people doesn't necessarily work for you. 

What I'm trying to say is… Quality over quantity. Do what you gotta do and do it GOOD even if that means doing a little less or working a little slower. Do whatever it is that helps you to put your best work forward. For the record, tons of work does not mean it's good work. In fact, in the long run, if it's really not done well, you only get behind because you have to go back and fix your careless mistakes. I speak from experience.

Time for granola now! You're rejoicing, I just know it. 

Remember what I was saying about putting my best work forward? Well. This granola here truly is divine and I edited the pictures about 5 different times before they turned out how I wanted them to. Truly the worst thing ever is when you have one heckuva recipe and cruddish photos. 

I made some chocolate granola with toasted coconut sometime back in the yesteryears. Three empty bowls and a chocolaty mouth later, I really regretted not writing down the recipe. Of course, I just got to making it for the blog last week, but better late than never. 

I amped up this recipe by adding cinnamon which adds a nice kick and almonds for extra crunch {and fibahhhh and prahhhtein.} It's fantastic on it's own, but what's really insane is sprinkling it on top of smoothies. Or filling a bowl with half smoothie, half granola. You know how it is. 

cinnamon spiced cocoa granola with toasted coconut & almonds

2 1/2 c. oats {I use quick-cooking}

2 tbsp. flax seeds

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 tbsp. oil {coconut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, etc.}

5 tbsp. pure maple syrup {or liquid sweetener}

1/2 c. raw almonds, roughly chopped

1/2 c. coconut chips

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except coconut and almonds. Pour onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring through once during the baking time. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Add coconut and almonds to a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes or until just lightly toasted and brown. Stir into granola. Let cool completely before transferring to a container.