Amazing Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {Dairy-Free + Egg-Free}}
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200 g) oats (quick oats or old-fashioned rolled oats)
- 1 ¼ cups (178 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (255 g) natural or regular peanut butter
- 1 cup (212 g) lightly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (108 g) neutral-flavored oil, like grapeseed, canola or vegetable or melted coconut oil
- ½ cup (130 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (255 g) chocolate chips or peanut butter chips (or a combo - make sure brand of chips are dairy-free, if needed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a couple half sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add the oats to a food processor or blender and process until coarsely ground (not super fine like flour but in small pieces). Add the flour, baking soda and salt and pulse a few times to combine all the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix until no dry streaks remain.
- Scoop dough into 2-3 tablespoon-sized portions and roll into balls. Place a few inches apart on prepared baking sheets. See note about flattening the cookies.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are set and lightly golden (but not overly brown). Don't over bake. Let the cookies rest for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Peanut Butter: I have made these cookies with natural peanut butter (Costco brand) and also with regular peanut butter (Skippy brand). The outcome of the cookies will change a bit depending on the type of peanut butter, since all brands, particularly natural vs regular differ in sweetness, consistency, salt, etc. I don't make any adjustments based on the different peanut butters I've used, but if you are using unsalted peanut butter, you may want to add another 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Flattening Cookies Before Baking: if the peanut butter used is really thick, you may want to flatten the cookies slightly before baking so they don't bake up too puffy. Baking 1-2 test cookies first can help decide whether to flatten or not.