I love any cookie that involves oatmeal! This oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is vegan. It contains no butter, and vanilla soy milk is used in place of eggs. They are chewy, with just the right amount of crisp on the outside. My non-vegan friends were impressed that such delicious cookies had no butter or eggs in them. If I didn’t tell them, I don’t think they would have ever known. These cookies disappeared quickly. To say they are addictive is an understatement!

The magic ingredient that gave these cookies an amazing vanilla kick was Watkins Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla.

Why have I not been using this vanilla in all my baking? It is amazing, and it added such a complex, but smooth vanilla flavor to the oatmeal cookies. It is not hard to find…I found my bottle at Super Target.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Bourbon Vanilla Kick

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup of Canola Oil

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Vanilla Soy Milk

1  1/3 cups Sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract

2 1/2 cups Rolled Oats

12 oz. Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
3. Mix together the oil and sugar until creamy.
4. Add the soy milk.
5. Add the vanilla.
6. Stir this mixture until it is well blended.
7. Slowly stir in the flour mixture and mix well.
8. Stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.
9. Place large tablespoons full of the batter onto a cookie sheet.
10. Bake the cookies for about 10-13 minutes.
11. Let cool…and Enjoy!

And it begins….here is the first pumpkin recipe for Pumpkin Season 2009. If you love soft baked cookies, these pumpkin cookies are for you. This recipe is vegan, and can be customized to create flavor combinations to please your personal taste buds. I kept it simple and made one batch with mini chocolate chips, and one batch with white chocolate chips. I thought of several flavor combinations that might by tasty: cranberry-walnut, white chocolate-macadamia nut, raisin-walnut, butterscotch chips…..What add-ins would you use to personalize your pumpkin cookies?

Personalized Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:

Directions:

June, one of my good friends at work, came to me and asked me to look at a fabulous recipe she found. She started hinting that she would like me to make it for her. The little wheels in the food blog area of my brain started turning, and I came up with a fun idea. I decided to do a weekly post featuring recipes chosen by family and friends. June picked out this fabulous Spiced Banana Walnut Muffin recipe from O, The Oprah Magazine. These moist and flavorful muffins are low in fat due to the use of applesauce to replace some of the oil. I love how the cinnamon and nutmeg blend beautifully with the banana and walnut flavors. These spiced muffins taste delicious with a touch of maple butter, especially when they are warm…YUM!

I served the muffins on this awesome cake stand. June knows my love of dragonflies, and she surprised me with it couple of weeks ago. I love it! Isn’t it beautiful!?

Come back tomorrow for an exciting giveaway involving chocolate chips!!!!!!!

I promise that after this post, I will take a break from my pumpkin craze…at least in terms of posting. Nothing will stop me from eating more pumpkin creations. These doughy delights would be perfect on the Thanksgiving table! They also would be tasty on a Fall morning with maple syrup and butter. I made these gluten free, but you can use any all purpose baking mix.

2 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose baking mix

2 cups skim milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1 tblsp water

Directions:

Mix baking mix, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.

Stir in pumpkin, milk, and water until all is moist.

Drop into 12 heaps onto baking sheet prepared with non-stick spray.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. If tops start to brown too fast, reduce heat to 375 degrees for the last 5 minutes.