Perfection V/GF Cookies

These are everything a chocolate chip cookie should be: crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, with a decent dose of vanilla and the rich, caramel flavor of brown sugar. The oat flour is tasty, like an oatmeal cookie, not chalky, like GF flour blends. They make next-to-no mess in the kitchen since they are prepared in a single bowl. And unlike many other vegan cookie recipes, they stay fresh for days. I kept telling myself I was making cookies over and over again because I wanted to get the recipe just right, but really, I just like eating them. Heck, I have them for breakfast sometimes. (Justification: Oatmeal, and therefore oat flour, is a breakfast food.)

1 cup (220 g) brown sugar or natural cane sugar
½ cup (110 ml) vegetable oil
2 Tbs. (30 ml) walnut oil, flaxseed oil, or sesame oil (if you don’t have these or are allergic to nuts,  you can also just use 2 Tbs. more vegetable oil; the others just add flavor)
2 tsp. vanilla extract or 2 pkg. vanilla sugar
2 cups (200 g.) oat flour*
2 Tbs. (25 g.) cornstarch
2 tsp./10 g. baking powder
1 tsp./5 g. salt
2 to 3 Tbs. (30 to 45 ml.) warm water, or more, if necessary
1 to 1½ cups (200-300 g.) chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Whisk together the sugar, the vegetable oils in a medium bowl. Whisk in the vanilla. Whisk together the oat flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Begin folding the flour in with a rubber spatula, add 2 Tbs. warm water, and stir/fold until a soft dough forms. It will look crumbly, but should hold together when shaped into a ball. Add 1 to 2 Tbs. more warm water if the dough seems too dry. Be careful adding the water, though; too much liquid will cause the oil to separate from the dough.  (See photo below for how the dough should look.) Fold in the chocolate chips. Let the dough stand 15 minutes while you preheat the oven. (You can also refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days.)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. (Lining the pans is essential since the cookies must cool completely on them.)

Roll the cookie dough into 2-inch (5 cm.) balls, and place on prepared baking sheets. Flatten gently, and reshape if necessary so the cookie disks are round. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until just beginning to brown. Cool on the baking sheets, then transfer to an airtight container for storage. Makes 18 to 20 cookies.

*I make my own oat flour by grinding rolled oats in a coffee grinder (a food processor will also work). Rolled oats are about half the price of oat flour, and the taste of freshly-ground oats is so much better. You can even toast the rolled oats beforehand for extra flavor.