There used to be this cafe in Portland that was a few blocks from a job I once had. They had a bakery and roastery in house, and a lot of vegan options. My go-to was the baked tofu sandwich combined with whatever their soup of the day was, plus a baked good. They had quick breads, cookies, and king cake during Mardi gras. One particular cookie has been so elusive to me since they closed over a decade ago: oatmeal chocolate chip with dried apricots. It was chewy, crispy, and large. I’ve never tried to make it myself, but haven’t seen it anywhere since. One day I will remedy this and recreate my dream cookie.
Meanwhile, to satisfy a lingering craving and to use up some lingering ingredients, I made these lying around cookies. Most of a box of instant homestyle oats I’ve had since I started working from home, thinking my morning habits would be the same here as the office (I’m more of a toast or yogurt person now), some candied ginger we got last year for reasons I don’t remember, some shredded coconut from making macarons, chocolate chips for making cookies we haven’t been in the mood for…together make a really good cookie that almost scratches an itch.
Texturally, these are different from traditional oatmeal cookies. They’re more like flaky oat cakes. With great flavor. They’d be a little less solid with regular oats, I’d wager. Sweet, salty, spicy, I have no complaints. I’ll keep searching, but this is a solid recipe to add to my cookie roster.
- 3/4 cups flour (used bread flour)
- 1 2/3 cups oatmeal (6 packets of instant oats)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chai spice mix
- 1 stick vegan butter (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 flax seed egg (tablespoon of ground flax in 3 tablespoons of warm water)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut
Heat oven to 350F. Cream sugars and butter together, then add flax egg and vanilla extract. Separately, mix flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spice mix together. Stir in chocolate chips, ginger, and coconut. Add this to the sugar mixture. Blend until no dry parts remain. Scoop cookie mixture onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, and flatten them a bit. Bake 25 minutes in my oven (or 12–15 in yours), or until cookies start to brown. Makes 18 cookies.
Rhubarb Season 