One of the best perks of piles of uni reading and writing essays means you really start to appreciate your snack game, because if we’re being honest it’s the only thing that fuels those long shifts at your desk. So over the last few weeks I have been obsessed with been trying to making healthier snack options using apple sauce (random I know) and trying different oat biscuit/ cookie recipes but they all just had something lacking.
After watching Madeline Olivia’s vlog where she made vegan cookies, I realised why don’t I use my apple sauce as part of a cookie recipe. Pairing the sauce with dark chocolate was a genius idea (if i do say so myself) and using apple sauce and agave makes it a great low sugar treat.
So, I have finally found a way to use my apple sauce and get that melted cookie I have been craving for weeks! And they’re vegan! I have been following a lot of vegan accounts on Instagram recently and its been giving me great motivation and inspiration to cook more vegan dishes. So, this is a fabulous nut-free and vegan recipe. Enjoy!
This recipe makes 8 medium sized cookies. I used a portion of the mixture to try as a muffin hence why there are only 6 on my tray.
Ingredients:
40g coconut oil
80g apple sauce
65g oat flour
¼ teaspoon Baking powder
Pinch of Salt
3 teaspoons of agave (depending on your sweetness preferences and how sweet your toppings are feel free to add more or less)
For toppings/ extras I used a mixture of chocolate and blueberry as I prefer to have the blueberry cookies for breakfast and the chocolate as an afternoon snack or dessert with my green tea.
The chocolate I used is from Beyond Good (the sea salt and nibs flavour), it’s vegan and has no added nuts (we love to see that) and is great to add to your cookies if you like dark chocolate. However, my sister brought this back for me after she spent a year in America, so if you are from the UK here are some other great vegan and nut-free chocolates you could include:
Creative Nature Gnawbles – I recently discovered this brand on Instagram and love how they are called HazelNOT, can’t wait to try these.
Supermarket free-from chocolate.
NOMO – they have so many flavours which could take your cookie game to a whole new level.
(N.B I have found that often chocolate with cocoa nibs can be hard to melt, so you many need to grind your chocolate pieces to achieve that melty chocolate once out of the oven)
Methods
To make the Apple Sauce:
- Cut up your apples into cubes.
- Place your apple in a plan and add a dash of lemon juice and cinnamon to taste.
- Pour boiling water over the apple to where the apple reach in the pain.
- Boil and simmer for around 15 to 35 minutes depending how many apples you have. I normally do around three medium apples and leave them simmering for 30 minutes
- Once simmered allow the apples to cool completely
- Pour the apples into a blender and blend until desired consistency.
- Place in jar and keep it in the fridge for around 5-7 days.
To make the oat flour:
Blend up the oats in a blender until you have a fine consistency.
To make the cookies:
- Melt the coconut oil until liquid.
- Pour the oil into the bowl of apple sauce, add agave and whisk until combined.
- Add the oat flour, baking powder and salt.
- Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Stir in your chocolate/ fruit etc.
- Once all your mixture is combined, cover your bowl with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- After this time, take out your mixture and using a spoon (as the mixture is quite wet) make 8 balls, place on the baking tray and make sure they have enough space apart.
- Let this bake at gas mark 5 for around 12-15 minutes.
- Once these are done, let them cool for around ten minutes.
- THey should start to stick together more but are a bit crumbly, for a more structured cookie place them in the fridge once cooled.
- Enjoy and try not to eat them all at once!
You can store these in the fridge for around 3-5 days. Every-time I grab one I pop them back in the microwave for 30 seconds so my cookie is soft and melty. DELISH.
Fancy trying something savoury? Try out my garlic breaded tofu recipe! Or for more recipes click here.
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