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Healthy Oatmeal Cookies!

Aaaaah, this new-found cool weather is glorious!

Yesterday I actually put on a long-sleeved shirt to go running in perfect running weather: 55 and sunny. I have to take advantage; there’s not much time between hot summers and crazy-unpredictable winters in Dallas. Remember my Blizzard post?

In the afternoon, two of my friends and I found ourselves sitting around with nothing to do. (Nothing to do? What about homework?? Ok, nothing we wanted to do.) How to remedy this situation? Answer: Bake cookies!

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Above, a plate full o’ cookies with a glass of homemade Cashew Milk.

P.S. I added the silly ribbon in the first photo ‘cause I wanted a little somethin-somethin but just could not subject y’all to more of the fake flowers! Then that annoying white shadow had to go and rain on my photo-taking parade. Boo. Well, at least the cookies look good, which is all that matters. Even more important: the cookies tasted good. That’s what really counts!

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Above, my Oatmeal Crinkle Cookies.

 

Published on September 29, 2010

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Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been 
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ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

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52 Comments

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  1. Jennifer - jcd says

    Mmmm…. healthy yummy cookies!! We veganise and health-ify recipes all the time. We don’t like greasy and/or overly sweet foods, so cutting the sugar in half (or less), using whole wheat pastry flour instead of white, and using applesauce or nut butters instead of oil or margarine is very common here. Although, I did just make coconut buttercream icing for a cake and used coconut oil instead of shortening – it was incredible! Fold in some fancy shredded coconut and it was divine! (Over carrot cake made with garden fresh carrots – mmmmm.)

  2. VEGirl says

    Yummy and pretty pictures! I have totally healthified recipes (in addition to gluten-free-anize, veganize, etc.). They are all on my website. Chocolate crinkles were always one of my faves, and I made kick-butt GF, vegan, low-fat, agave-sweetened one for Christmas last year, and everyone loved them. BUT I LOST THE RECIPE. AGGG!!!!

    I am going to have to try recreating them this Christmas!
    VEGirl

  3. veganfacetabitha says

    Wow, those look goood. I always health-ify things when I can. The looks on my friends faces when I tell them there’s a zucchini in their cookies or a carrot or two in those pancakes 😉 I live for it.

  4. Erica says

    This recipe looks awesome.

    I have a bad habit of trying to healthify everything. There have been both good and utterly disastrous experiences with this. I remember one time I tried to make a healthy vegan version of chocolate chip “cookies” (note the quotation marks). I replaced all the flour for whole wheat, as well as the oil for applesauce, flax for egg, raisins for chocolate chips, etc. I ended up with what were henceforth dubbed as the “hippie cookie-scones”. They were super dense and utterly tasteless. On the bright side I certainly learned my lesson about having too much of a good thing. I’m thinking your recipe will turn out much much better.

  5. Tanya says

    Can you describe how much stevia you used to replace the brown sugar? I really want to avoid refined sugars of any kind but i am unsure how to replace it with stevia without a major disaster! Thanks!

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      I’m always wary of giving sweetener recommendations, because I have such a non-existent sweet tooth that people always tell me things need more than the amount I’ve recommended. Also, we halved the recipe. But I used NuNaturals stevia, and according to the paper I have from them, 1/4 cup sugar is equal to 6 of their packets of stevia powder (3 tsp). We used less than that ratio, but like I said, my taste buds are strange. My friends all loved the cookies… but they might’ve liked them even more had they been sweeter. Sorry I can’t be more helpful than that!

  6. Albizia says

    I like healthifying recipies. I don’t cook that much but when I do, I almost always reduce the amounts of oil, sugar, etc. Just because I like it 🙂 .

    Oatmeal cookies are my weakness (and yours look perfect!) but I don’t think I can healthify them any more than they already are because before I start baking I go through a lot of recipes looking for the right one. Although I’m not vegan, I only make vegan ones because this way I avoid the risk of mega failure due to baking in an oven toaster. The art of cooking in a dorm room… 🙂

  7. Erika @ Health and Happiness in LA says

    My favorite oatmeal cookies are actually just oats, mashed banana, and fruity mix-ins like dates and they’re surprisingly delicious and healthy.

    I can’t stand to make recipes their original way, especially if it involves dumping half a cup of oil into something. I just can’t do it!

  8. abby says

    these look so good! i’m making them for sure! and katie, i know you’ve said you’re working on taking better photos. well whatever it is you’re doing, i can see a huge difference. of course they were good before, but your photos really look awesome lately :).

  9. Leslie says

    Ha! I love the ribbon. You’re right, it really adds something to the photo. But wait, there’s cookies there. Who needs to add anything? 😉
    Especially when they’re so healthy!

  10. spoonfulofsugarfree says

    Mmmm! Yum Yum! I love oatmeal cookies 🙂

    I basically health-ify everything I make for myself. I just love eating healthy foods, and I love the challenge of making them, too! Anyone can throw some sugar, butter, and flour into the oven and make a yummy treat, but it takes some work and creativity to make something that is healthy and tastes good! For example, I have a healthy fruit crisp and puppy chow recipe coming on my blog soon!

  11. Kiki says

    Mmmm, cookies and milk! They look delicious, and the picture is pretty even without the ribbon 🙂

    I healthify almost every recipe I make. I just can’t resist!

  12. eatandrun says

    I usually stick to recipes that already are healthy, since I don’t trust myself in the kitchen and don’t want to waste food on a bad experiment.

  13. Lauren @ 40Apples says

    Awesome, simple recipe! I’m gonna have to make these soon…. I’ve “healthified” a number of quickbread and cookie recipes – some for the better, some not so much for the better (let’s be honest, sometimes you just need a dessert to be a DESSERT 😉 )

  14. Shelby says

    I always healthify my mom’s recipes! I’m also planning on doing something with an old family cookbook that was my great-grandmothers. Def. not vegan but I’m going to try!

  15. Mary @ Bites and Bliss says

    Those looks fantastic, Katie!! I healthify recipes all the time- cake, bread, cookies, ice cream..it’s a good way to get creative 🙂

  16. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) says

    Really links are cool?

    Here’s my master Recipe link where you can find everything
    http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/p/recipes.html

    Ok I healthified Reeses PB Cups –High Raw Vegan

    I also made Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies into high raw vegan fudge

    And on my site I have recipes for Girl Scout Cookie Samoaos (Raw Vegan GF)

    And also have Peppermint Patties veganized too

    Pretty much you name it, I’ve tried. And of course sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, I made pumpkin pie Vegan GF and Soyfree. So I have been busy making things not only just “healthy” but that I can eat them as nearly all commercially made food is either not vegan or not GF. Bummers for me, so I made my own!

    🙂

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      Links are definitely cool! I used to have it set so link comments went to spa. But then I realized that other people can find new blogs, great ideas, etc. from links. To everyone who reads this: Averie has a treasure trove of vegan recipes on her site!

  17. Allison says

    55 degrees! Sunday and Monday we had triple digits here in San Diego. It was miserable! Enjoy that weather while you can! Cookies look delicious too. I keep meaning to try to make my own nut milk too….Someday!

  18. Caitlin says

    It depends who will be eating the treats! Since I am low-gluten, I generally stick to cookies made from only 1 cup nut butter and 1 cup sweetener (or less because dang that makes the cookies super sweet), and it’s hard to change that recipe too much.

    When I am baking for my family, I try to keep the goods cholesterol-free so that my dad can eat them, too.

    When baking for my boyfriend…I can pretty much do whatever I want and he will think it’s great.

  19. Di @ http://thetreadmilldiaries.com/ says

    I absolutely believe that any recipe can be made in a way that’s healthier while still tasting delicious. In fact, being from an Italian, food-centric family, I’ve kind of made it my mission to come up with comforting, tasty treats.

    A few dishes that people wouldn’t think could be low-cal that I’ve reinvented include a hearty bolognese sauce, country fried steak, and quiche. These recipes and others can be found at: http://thetreadmilldiaries.com/recipes/.

    Thanks for letting me ramble on about my passion. 🙂

  20. Erika says

    I love healthifying foods! Over the summer I actually healthified my Mom’s Zucchini Bread recipe – now it’s healthier and I think it tastes better too! 🙂 Your cookies look delish!

  21. libraryscene says

    I was just wondering about a vegan oatmeal cookie as fall makes me wish to bake~ thanks! I think I will try a buckwheat/amaranth flour combo since I stay away from wheat. Wonder if you’ve ever used nut butter as partial replacement for oil? (that, or your coco bliss ;)) I’m going to add some cashew butter and decrease applesauce and see what bakes!

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      I actually have an absolutely amazing nut butter cookie recipe. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting it this month; it just needs a few more taste-test trials (i.e. baking soda v. powder, deciding if it works with cashew butter, etc.)… or perhaps I just am looking for an excuse for making more cookies ;). Definitely let me know how your cookies turn out, though!!

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      Most definitely! I wish I could say I was good enough with a camera to figure out the F stop thing to blur the background (“fishbowl” or something, I think it’s called…).
      Until I learn how to do that, I make do by blurring the background with photoshop.

  22. Kady says

    I agree – 55 and sunny it wonderful running weather! Thanks for the recipe! I tried it today, but subbed pumpkin for the applesauce and added cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and raisins. They’re actually to bring when I visit friends next weekend, so it will take all my willpower not to eat them all before them!

  23. Emma (ecoprincess) says

    These look so nice! I’m either going to make these today, or some boatmeal! =D A quick question: how do you keep so organised with your previous posts and know where they all are to link back to them and stuff?

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      LOL I have a hard time NOT linking back to everything! Because I’ve blogged for so long, I have a ton of old entries, but I don’t want to bombard people with backlinks!

      I use Livewriter, which lets you write keywords and automatically link to them every time you write the word. But sometimes I just have to search for an old post by writing a phrase into my search bar.

  24. Rich says

    Katie, I have adored your website since I found it years ago before your move to DC. The website has always been easy to use. Since your new format and change, the number of adds has made it almost impossible to use. In fact, this page for “healthy oatmeal cookies” doesnt even have your recipe anywhere on the page.

    • Jason Sanford says

      Hi Rich, there are no more ads on pages than there were before, so I’m trying to figure out what you might be seeing… The recipe you’re looking at is an older post from a decade ago, so maybe that is why the page looks strange haha!
      Jason (media relations)

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