Oatmeal Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

My daughters love everything chocolate.  No vanilla around here, thank you very much.

They get this chocolate passion from my Father.  As a young man he sold candy door to door with my grandfather, and he always kept up his love affair with chocolate.

 For sure, he has passed that to me and my sisters, and the chocolate in our blood, flowed right into his seven grandchildren.

When we visit my parents in Florida, my Father picks us up at the airport, and shows up at the gate, waving at us with a giant sized Hershey bar.  My kids run to him, and he quickly breaks off big jagged hunks of chocolate and passes it all around to us.  Always the beginning of a great visit.

 Love you Papa Jeff.

These cookies have a rich cocoa flavor , thanks to the raw cacao powder which is filled with anti-oxidants. It is dense and chewy cookie from the oats but with a little crunch on the edges.  

Happily, this a vegan and gluten free cookie.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat

In a medium bowl whisk together:

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose flour

1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats

1/4 cup flax meal

1 1/2 teaspoon xantham gum

In a separate medium bowl mix until combined:

2/3 cup rice milk

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup olive oil (I used organic, cold pressed)

1 cup organic light brown sugar

1 cup organic evaporated cane juice

1/4 cup organic unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup of raw powdered cacao

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons best quality vanilla

Gently add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated (don't over mix).

Fold in:

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Let the batter rest for 10 minutes while the xantham gum does it's magic thing.

On prepared cookie sheet, use a cookie scooper, and evenly place dough 1-2 inches apart.  

If it spreads, let it go.  If it is a bit stiff, you can use wet fingers and gently push it flatter.

Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes or until cookie looks dry and set.  Careful not to let the bottom and edges burn.  Because of the dark chocolate color it is hard to visually watch for that.  Stay close to the oven.

Let sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes to cool than transfer to a wire rack.  

Yummy warm with a glass of cold rice milk, or freeze the rest in an air tight container, for who ever, whenever!