These vegan oatmeal cookies with applesauce can be made with a variety of combinations with whole healthy ingredients suitable for gluten free, egg free, refined sugar free and vegan diets. These vegan oatmeal cookies need no butter, they can be made crispy or moist and chewy, the secret ingredient is the applesauce! Enjoy these vegan oatmeal applesauce cookies as breakfast or snack on the go.
Perfect as a healthy snack or breakfast, these vegan oat cookies with applesauce can be customized with chocolate chips, seeds, nuts or dried fruits. Below I’m presenting 4 ways to make oatmeal cookies with applesauce and a recipe video.
Vegan Oatmeal Cookies With Applesauce
Making oat applesauce cookies – vegan, nut free, soy free and refined sugar free sounds like not a simple task, but there are few substitutions that make this possible.
These oatmeal cookies with applesauce are a delicious way to get your morning oats to the next level. If you prefer a bar form then try these Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars To-Go (Gluten Free, Vegan).
What makes these oat applesauce cookies healthy:
- They do not contain any processed vegan margarine or shortening;
- There are no gums or starch flours or store bought premixed flour blends that contains xanthan or guar gum;
- They are full of fiber and healthy complex carbs;
- Not loaded with sugar;
- Perfect as a breakfast on-the-go, or as a snack.
For more healthy vegan oatmeal cookies, check out my vegan oatmeal cookies with blueberry and peach or these vegan oatmeal matcha cookies.
Vegan Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies With Less Sugar
This oat applesauce cookies recipe besides being allergy friendly, is also perfect for people on a low glycemic diet, vegans and those who just want to avoid processed “gluten free junk” sold in stores.
The dough itself has very little added sugar (maple syrup), and if you choose to add only seeds then the result is barely sweet. Optionally some maple or coconut sugar can be added (if you like). Just like in my vegan oatmeal breakfast bars the addition of dried fruits and/ or chocolate chips will make the cookies sweeter without adding extra sugar.
Another recipe that uses dried fruit as filling are these Amaranth + Fig Swirl Cookies.
I’m presenting 4 ways to make vegan oatmeal cookies with applesauce:
- oatmeal applesauce chocolate chip cookies
- vegan applesauce oatmeal cookies with dried prunes
- oatmeal cookies with applesauce and seeds
- vegan oatmeal raisin cookies
Ingredients For Vegan Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies
The base for these oat applesauce cookies is made with:
- Mixture of gluten free rolled oats, oat flour and brown rice flour – I’m using both the whole oats and the flour for a better texture. As for the rice flour – it’s used as a biding agent. And you can replace it with other flour you like.
- Applesauce – applesauce in cookies is used as a butter and egg substitute.
- Maple syrup and stevia – as the sweetener. Feel free to use more if you decide to omit the stevia.
- Flax seeds – are used as a binder. When combined with apple sauce in cookies, it makes a wonderful egg replacer.
- Coconut oil – is used as fat which helps the browning process and gives the oatmeal cookies a chewer texture.
- Baking soda with apple cider vinegar – act as a rising agent and will help the oatmeal cookies puff up a bit.
Then add to the base cookie dough whatever you like the most:
- chocolate chips
- sunflower and pumpkin seeds mix or nuts
- dried prunes – cut into small chunks
- raisins and cranberries
- dried tart cherries
- cinnamon
If you like crunchy treats then you need to try these lightly sweet vegan graham crackers (GF) as well.
How To Make Vegan Oatmeal Cookies With Apple Sauce
Step 1. Soak the rolled oats:
- In a medium bowl place the rolled oats with twice amount of water, soak for 5 minutes, then drain well, set aside. This step will help bring more moisture to the recipe without adding any additional liquid. Plus it will help rinse impurities from oats.
Step 2. Combine the wet ingredients:
- In another bowl mix all wet ingredients, the apple sauce, the soaked oats, maple syrup and coconut oil to that add the ground flax seeds, combine to absorb the moisture and gelatinize.
Step 3. Combine the dry ingredients:
- Combine the oat flour, rice flour and salt. Set aside.
- Here you can also add some maple sugar (or your favorite granulated sugar, about1/3 cup) if you’re not using sweetened dried fruits.
Step 4. Combine the wet with dry ingredients:
- Add dry ingredients to the ball with wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Choose your add-ons (dried fruit, chocolate chips or seeds and nuts) and mix just to incorporate, but don’t overmix.
- At the end add the baking soda and apple cider vinegar, gently mix. This will create leavening. Add right before baking, so the bubbles won’t disperse quickly. Preferably after you have added all the ad-ins like seeds and fruits.
Step 5. Form the vegan oatmeal cookies and bake:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Place approximately 1 to 2 tbsp (or use an ice cream scoop) of cookie dough at equal distance on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Press each ball down gently to slightly flatten them, as these cookies won’t spread very much in the oven.
- Bake at 375 F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown, then turn off the heat and leave the oven door open a couple of inches, so they could dry out and crisp up (about 20-30 minutes).
- If you prefer you vegan oatmeal cookies moist and chewy, just pull them out once they are golden.
- Remove from the oven and move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video: How To Make Oatmeal Cookies With Applesauce
Please note that the order of combining ingredients in the recipe video slightly differs from the written recipe. Since this recipe has been made multiple times, it has been perfected over time, so please stick to the written recipe instructions.
Oat Applesauce Vegan Cookies With Gluten Free Oats
It’s important that you buy Certified Gluten Free Oats if you want to avoid cross-contamination with other grains during processing. You can find different brands in stores but I also prefer them to be organic. There are not many available options online, but this: Gluten Free Organic Rolled Oats from amazon, are one of the best available, both gluten free and organic certified.
Oat Applesauce Cookies FAQs
Oats are among the healthiest grains available providing many benefits. They’re a gluten-free whole grain and a great source of important vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants that support healthy immune function. Including them in baked goods helps you incorporate more of their nutritional value in your diet.
You will get dry vegan oatmeal cookies if you don’t use enough liquid ingredients, oats tend to absorb a lot of moisture, so soaking the oats or adding more liquid helps.
The egg and the butter.
In some baked good it might, but in these oatmeal cookies you don’t even notice the taste.
The ratio of flour to wet ingredients must be wrong. Too much flour and less wet ingredients might yield stiff cookies.
More Healthy Vegan Cookies
More Oatmeal Recipes To Try
- Banana Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins + GF/DF Option
- Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Bars To-Go (Gluten Free, Vegan)
- Oatmeal Cookies With Blueberries & Peach | GF, V
- Oat Crumble Topping For Any Warm Baked Filing
- Blackberry And Apple Crumble + GF/DF Option
- Apple And Blueberry Crumble / Crisp + GD-DF Option
Let me know what you think of these oatmeal cookies with applesauce.
If you have any questions or comments or rate the recipe, please use the comment section below!
Vegan Oatmeal Cookies With Applesauce – 4 Ways | GF
Ingredients
Oatmeal Cookie Dough:
- 1 cup gluten free rolled oats - soaked for 5 min
- 1½ cup apple sauce
- ½ cup oat flour - organic, gluten free
- ½ cup brown rice flour - or any other gluten free flour
- 4 tbsp golden flax seeds - ground
- 4 tbsp coconut oil - organic, virgin, melted, or use a vegan butter
- 3-4 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar - add this, if not using sweet dried fruits
Add-ons (add one or combine multiple):
- 1 cup chocolate chips - dairy-free, soy-free
- 1 cup sunflower and pumpkin seeds mix - preferably soaked + 1/2 cup of pecans;
- 1 cup organic dried prunes - cut into small chunks;
- 1 cup raisins – organic, unsulphured - preferably soaked +1 tsp cinnamon.
- 1 cup dried tart cherries
Instructions
Step 1. Soak the rolled oats:
- In a medium bowl place the rolled oats with twice amount of water, soak for 5 minutes, then drain well, set aside. This step will help bring more moisture to the recipe without adding any additional liquid. Plus it will help rinse impurities from oats.
Step 2. Combine the wet ingredients:
- In another bowl mix all wet ingredients, the apple sauce, the soaked oats, maple syrup and coconut oil to that add the ground flax seeds, combine to absorb the moisture and gelatinize.
Step 3. Combine the dry ingredients:
- Combine the oat flour, rice flour and salt. Set aside.Here you can also add some maple sugar (or your favorite granulated sugar, about1/3 cup) if you’re not using sweetened dried fruits.
Step 4. Combine the wet with dry ingredients:
- Add dry ingredients to the ball with wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Choose your add-ons (dried fruit, chocolate chips or seeds and nuts) and mix just to incorporate, but don’t overmix.
- At the end add the baking soda and apple cider vinegar, gently mix. This will create leavening. Add right before baking, so the bubbles won’t disperse quickly. Preferably after you have added all the ad-ins like seeds and fruits.
Step 5. Form the vegan oatmeal cookies and bake:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.Place approximately 1 to 2 tbsp (or use an ice cream scoop) of cookie dough at equal distance on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Press each ball down gently to slightly flatten them, as these cookies won’t spread very much in the oven.
- Bake at 375 F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown, then turn off the heat and leave the oven door open a couple of inches, so they could dry out and crisp up (about 20-30 minutes).
- If you prefer you vegan oatmeal cookies moist and chewy, just pull them out once they are golden.
- Remove from the oven and move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Tips For Making Healthy Vegan Oatmeal Cookies With Applesauce
- The ground flax seeds and apple sauce help to bind the mixture together without eggs and butter. They help to create a soft and chewy texture, so make sure don’t skip these.
- If you want these vegan oatmeal cookies crispier, bake them longer (30-40 min) at a lower temperature (`~350 F). If you want your oat cookies chewy – bake at a higher temperature for a shorter time.
- Buy certified gluten free rolled oats if you want to avoid cross-contamination with other grains during processing. The brand of Gluten Free Organic Rolled Oats I like is both gluten free and organic.
- If you want the cookies sweeter, add stevia extract to the additional sweet ingredients, or just more maple sugar or coconut sugar as suggested above.
- If you don’t like coconut oil, you can replace it with a natural vegan butter or some nut / seed butter, the fat helps the cookie stay moist and chewy.
- Soaking the seeds and the dried fruits will add moisture to the cookies, also it will remove dirt, added oil and sugar.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
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Mengha
Wednesday 23rd of March 2022
Love these applesauce cookies,they're chewy and soft and perfect for kids!
HealthyTasteOfLife
Wednesday 23rd of March 2022
I love them too, kids just adore cookies and at least you don't feel guilty when using a healthier cookie recipe :)
alex
Monday 23rd of March 2020
Can I sub the rice flour for more oat flour?
HealthyTasteOfLife
Monday 23rd of March 2020
Yes, I think it should be fine.