Date-Sweetened Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Vegan!

Gluten free vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are chewy, soft, and deliciously sweet! They’re refined sugar free and full of melty chocolate chips for the best oatmeal cookie!

These vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies bring me back to childhood. One of my favorite cookies growing up were these thick and chewy oatmeal cookies that my mom would always get us at the grocery store.

Every day from school, I’d run home and have a big iced oatmeal cookie. It was the best!

These gluten free oatmeal cookies may be a little different in ingredients, but they taste just as amazing! Plus they’re incredibly easy to make with the simplest of ingredients. I took a poll on Instagram, and many had requested recipes with simple and cost effective ingredients, so here we are!

The easiest, simplest, and most delicious vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that will wow any crowd, from young to old!

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Ingredients for these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies:

You need just really simple ingredients for these simple vegan oatmeal cookies, which is what I love about this recipe.

Rolled oats: well we can’t have vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies without the rolled oats! Actually, rolled oats are the only sort of grain or flour in this recipe. You don’t need all purpose nor almond nor [insert other flour here]! Really easy, right? You’ll just divide the rolled oats to make part of it into an oat flour and the rest will aid in creating the classic thick and chewy oatmeal cookies.

Dates: yes, we’re using fruit as the sweetener here! Actually, using dates came out better than expected. I originally was going to use maple syrup when I first crafted this recipe, but then I saw my dates sitting in the fridge, soaking (they were for another recipe, but I had too many!). I figured, why not give it a shot? Turns out dates are a fantastic cookie sweetener and so easy to use.

Coconut milk: you can also use almond milk in here if you’d like!

Vegan butter: make sure that when you use vegan butter for this recipe that you’re allowing it to fully soften and come to room temperature. This is because you want it all to mix into the batter and it also aids in helping the cookies not spread so much! You can also swap in a coconut or nut butter here if you don’t have vegan butter on hand!

Ground flax seed: I love using ground flax seed in my baking recipes as a substitute for eggs. I think it not only creates a great, fluffy texture, but it also adds some fantastic nutrients to these simple vegan oatmeal cookies! Plus, it’s pretty cost effective, especially when bought in bulk. Using ground flax seeds actually is less expensive per serving than using an egg!

Vanilla extract: all cookies need a little vanilla extract, right? It just wouldn’t be a cookie without it in my opinion!

Chocolate chips: So I used the brand, Enjoy Life, for these chocolate chip chunks in the cookies, but if you’re really going sugar free, I also love using Pascha’s 100% dark chocolate chips. They’re just made from cacao powder and cacao butter! Pretty intense, but amazing nonetheless. Another favorite is using Lily’s Sweets chocolate chips! Those are also vegan and sweetened with stevia. Or just feel free to use whatever is your favorite chocolate chip!

Can I add raisins?

But of course!! If you’re not a chocoholic, like moi, feel free to sub in any traditional oatmeal cookie add in!

These simple vegan oatmeal cookies would be wonderful with some raisins, or if you don’t have a nut allergy, adding in walnuts or peanuts would be fantastic too.

And if you’re feeling on the wild side, why not add in some dairy free M&M’s to these thick and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?! 😉

Kitchen equipment for these gluten free oatmeal cookies:

For these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, you’re definitely going to need some sort of blender or food processor, along with a large mixing bowl.

I highly recommend the food processor over the blender because I feel like it helps to blend the dates more evenly. However, if you’ve soaked your dates well enough, a blender will still work!

You’re just going to need to blend your oats first to create a flour and then add in your dates!

After you create the first part of the batter using the food processor, you’ll spoon the oatmeal and dates blend into a large bowl. There, you’ll begin mixing the rest of the batter, using your hands! I find that using my hands ensures that all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Just make sure to wash your hands first haha!

Are these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies nut free?

Yes!! In fact, these healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are nut free, dairy free, and refined sugar free! Pretty cool, huh? I like to keep it as allergy friendly as I can in my kitchen because I believe that there are just so many recipes out there that say they’re gluten free, but may contain nuts, or say they’re vegan, but might contain gluten, etc.

I strive to make recipes taste good and feel good for a wide range of people. If you have a nut allergy, you can easily swap in coconut milk for the almond milk, as well as stick with the vegan butter option instead of a nut butter (although I bet these would taste great with a sunflower seed butter!).

To make sure that these thick and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies stay gluten free, opt for a certified gluten free sprouted oat, like One Degree Organics. I like to go with sprouted because it makes the oats more easily digestible, but you can absolutely use regular gluten free rolled oats for these simple vegan oatmeal cookies!

How to store these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?

I highly recommend storing these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in an air tight container in the fridge for at most a week. However, if you’re like my mama, then you like your cookies frozen, so feel free to put them in the freezer for about a month (if they last that long lol)!

Don’t worry! These gluten free oatmeal cookies will still remain soft, even in the fridge! I think it’s because of using dates rather than a sugar, coconut sugar, or even maple syrup. Dates are just sticky and gooey, especially when soaked the night before, so I feel like it aids in keeping these vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies extra soft and chewy 🙂

I also like to mention a few favorite ways to consume these simple vegan oatmeal cookies 😉

Yeah, they’re great with a glass of coconut milk, especially hot out of the oven when the chocolate is melting! But they’re also pretty amazing sprinkled over a bowl of nice cream or with a smear of coconut or nut butter on top!

If you’re in the cookie mood still, I highly recommend checking out a few of my favorite cookie recipes below:

• Vegan Paleo Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
• Healthier Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Vegan Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m also adding a free downloadable baking swaps PDF to my free resource library to help you out when you don’t have an ingredient on hand! I get asked so many times about swapping x ingredient for y that I thought that it might be helpful to see what you can easily swap in whenever you want or need!

To gain access to my free resource library, which also contains more free guides, including a guide to meal prepping and one to obtaining true food freedom, you can sign up below!

Happy baking!

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