Vegan Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My Father-in-Law went into the hospital two days ago with blockage in his heart, so we had to rush away from home rather quickly. He ended up having to get a stent put in his heart. He is doing fine now, and he gets to come home from the hospital today. We are still away from home, so I haven't been able to make or blog about any yummy food recently. I thought I would share with you my new favorite cookie recipe. This cookie is vegan and follows the migraine diet; however, it is NOT light. It has a lot of sugar, peanut butter, and best of all, chocolate. I found this recipe here.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons oil-you may substitute applesauce to lower the fat in this recipe
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup soy milk (regular or vanilla flavored) dairy, rice, or oat milks would work just as well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole-wheat flour, Use half white, half wheat if you aren't used to whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips — use non-dairy chips to keep it vegan

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together first five ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, soda and salt. Stir into batter.
4. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
5. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheet. It is important to use parchment paper, or the cookies will stick to the baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Do not over cook. They may not look completely done at ten minutes, take them out any way and let them rest for a minute.
7. Remove cookies from the cookie sheet. Place on wire rack to cool.

The recipe makes about 18 cookies depending on cookie size.

If you cook the cookies for too long, they become very crunchy. I like my cookies better if they are a little chewy. I tend to modify recipes as I make them. I ended up adding probably a tablespoon of brown sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I'm not sure if this addition changed the taste dramatically. I might add more cocoa powder next time to make double chocolate oatmeal cookies! yum!

Nutritional Information
One cookie made with oil: 175 calories, 7.2g fat, 130 mg sodium, 24.8g carbohydrates 1.3g fiber, 3.7g protein, 15.1g sugar

One cookie made with apple sauce: 162 calories, 5.7g fat, 130mg sodium, 25g carbohydrates, 1.4g fiber, 3.7g protein, 15.3g sugar

These cookies have a decent amount of protein, so if you are going to eat a cookie anyway, this one will at least provide energy and some satiation.