🥥 Ingredient Notes
Rolled oats & oat flour
Oat flour makes the base of the dough, providing structure, while rolled oats add chewiness. I prefer using rolled oats, but quick oats will work too if that’s all you have on hand.
Make your own oat flour: If you’re like me and rarely find oat flour at the store, you can easily make your own. To do so, add rolled or quick oats to a high-speed blender and blend for 1-2 minutes or until it forms a very fine flour. You can then transfer it to a container and keep it for months!
Almond flour
After testing, I noticed that cookies that only relied on oat flour tended to be a bit dryer. Almond flour adds the necessary fat to make the cookies moist.
Note: Use almond flour, not almond meal.
Shredded coconut
Use unsweetened shredded coconut. Do not mistake those with coconut flakes, which are larger and harder. You want to use finely shredded coconut for these cookies.
Coconut nectar
To sweeten the cookies. I went with coconut nectar for three reasons: First, I like its subtle caramel flavor. Then, since it’s a liquid sweetener, it keeps the cookies soft and chewy for days. And finally, it’s not as refined as other types of sugar, making the cookies a tad healthier.
Note: Not all coconut nectars are equal. Just like maple syrup, there are different types of grades of coconut nectar. The darker ones tend to have a stronger flavor and a hint of bitterness. I suggest using the light kind for this recipe. From my experience, unlike maple syrup, brands do not display the grade of coconut nectar, so the only way to tell is by looking at the color of the nectar in the bottle. It should have a color just slightly darker than agave.
Substitute: You can substitute maple syrup or agave syrup for the coconut nectar.
Coconut oil
The addition of oil to the batter adds richness. You might notice that I only use two tablespoons for one batch of about nine cookies. While this amount may seem low, it’s enough because almond flour already contributes a good amount of fat.
Substitute: Melted vegan butter works too!
For gourmet notes and a delicate floral aroma. Use high-quality store-bought vanilla extract or homemade vanilla extract.
Chocolate chips
You can use regular-size or mini chocolate chips. If you want to make the cookies completely refined sugar-free, I suggest using chocolate chips sweetened with coconut sugar or stevia.
Note: In this recipe, I do not incorporate the chocolate chips into the dough. Instead, I press a few chips on top of the cookies. This is because I found out that incorporating them directly into the dough made it harder to shape the cookies prior to baking.