Raw Vegan Lemon Cranberry Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
33Piggies! It is cranberry season and I could not be happier! I admit to having performed my signature piggy dance of joy with reckless abandon in the middle of the farmer's market on the weekend whilst salivating over all of the plump delicious fresh cranberries on offer. My snout was wet, my tail was wiggling, and the "tart at heart" in me was rejoicing as I contemplated "death by excessive cranberry consumption." Just call me the scarlet lady!
What can I say, those plump glossy tart little berries were just begging to be exploited! So, I snatched a few bags and was inspired to create some delectable cranberry dishes for my contribution to the holiday issue of Raw Super Life Magazine. I decided right then and there to celebrate "all things cranberry" and lock myself in my kitchen with one goal: to create four mouth watering raw vegan cranberry treats for the holiday season! I will share all of these recipes over the coming weeks.
These raw vegan cranberry recipes can be enjoyed all year round. But it is best to eat fresh cranberries in season, which is why I suppose, we typically associate cranberry dishes with holiday menus. Fiona Kennedy, in her article about cranberries for the November issue of Vegetarian Times said, "Deep cranberry red is as much an autumn hue as the golds and oranges of the changing leaves" I couldn't have said it better myself. Except to say, "cranberries rock and I intend (perhaps at my own digestive peril) to gorge myself silly all season long". Yeah….Fiona's version is a lot more poetic.
Fresh cranberries (which contain the highest levels of phytonutrients) are in season from October through December. If you are eating them fresh, choose firm, even coloured cranberries with no spots or dents. Moisture spells death for our beloved cranberry. So be sure to purchase bags or boxes that are completely dry, and refrigerate uncovered or opened so the berries can breathe. They will last up to a month this way. But cranberries freeze extremely well. If you want to freeze them and stock up for the rest of the year, pack them in sealed containers, where they will retain their freshness for up to two years. You can also dry your own cranberries in your Excalibur dehydrator for use later.
My first cranberry recipe utilizes dried cranberries. After my little rant about the benefits of eating fresh foods in season and utilising the power of the fresh cranberry it seems a little ridiculous. But this raw vegan cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe is so amazing that I had to share it immediately. I literally just pulled these no bake raisin oatmeal cookies out of the dehydrator and am currently typing with cranberry cookie in one hand and lap top in the other.
I absolutely LOVE cranberry raisin oatmeal cookies. Oh, show me the way to piggy heaven! But I wanted to create a raw vegan version of the beloved cranberry raisin oatmeal cookie that rival it's baked counterpart. I have struck the jackpot with this recipe. I LOVE raw cookies. I have already shared my raw vegan chocolate cashew cookies and raw vegan mint chocolate chop cookies. Those no bake cookies are delicious. But I wanted to create some dense chewy raw no bake oatmeal cookies that would satisfy my cravings for something baked.
These raw vegan lemon cranberry raisin oatmeal cookies really do taste like they have been baked! My friend Stacey came over to sample my efforts (all of the recipes were given an enthusiastic thumbs up by the way) and she seconded my assertion that these tasted like soft chewy baked oatmeal cookies. Trust me, serve these to any of your raw vegan skeptics out there and they will never know the difference. Raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free and refined sugar free bites of piggy heaven.
I will caution you, that these cookies are rich! I confess, that is what I love about them. You could always omit the optional agave nectar and reduce the lemon zest. I LOVE the lemony kick. But the best thing about raw cookie dough is that is tastes the same before and after you put in the dehydrator. So tweak your "batter" to taste to ensure you get it juuuuust right and you know exactly how it is going to taste. My money is on this blend. You could also make smaller cookies. The hardest thing about these cookies is waiting 12 hours to eat them. I licked out the mixing bowl!
Give this recipe a spin in your food processor and you won't be sorry. These raw vegan oatmeal cookies are to DIE for!
**Please note: For those of you without Excalibur dehydrators, you can try making these oatmeal cookies in a conventional oven by preheating your oven to 300 F, placing the cookies in, closing the oven door, turning the oven off and allowing it to cool with the cookies inside. The cookies should have a nice chewy texture.
Raw Vegan Lemon Cranberry Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
- 2 cups organic oat groats (or rolled oats if not strictly raw)
- 1 cup raw pecans
- 1/2 cup firmly packed grated fresh apple (about 2 medium apples)
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup dried raisins
- 1/2 cup pitted dates roughly chopped
- 4 Tbsp organic unrefined coconut oil
- 3 - 4 Tbsp raw agave nectar depending on taste
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp alcohol free vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp regular extract
- 1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest (1 medium lemon) depending on taste
- a pinch of Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
- Pulse the raw pecans a few times until roughly chopped. Empty them into a mixing bowl.
- Place the oats in the food processor with the cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and sea salt and pulse a few times until well combined.
- Add in the dates, apple, lemon zest, coconut oil and pulse again.
- Transfer this mixture to a large bowl and fold through the remaining ingredients until a thick clustered "dough" forms.
- Tweak the flavours to taste. You might want more agave, cinnamon or lemon zest.
- Form this dough into medium sized cookies and place on mesh dehydrator sheets.
- Dehydrate cookies in your Excalibur dehydrator at 100 degrees for 12 - 15 hours or more depending on your preference.
- This recipe yields 12 medium sized dense chewy cookies. Alternatively, you could make 24 smaller cookies.
**Please note: For those of you without Excalibur dehydrators, you can try making these oatmeal cookies in a conventional oven by preheating your oven to 300 F, placing the cookies in, closing the oven door, turning the oven off and allowing it to cool with the cookies inside. The cookies should have a nice chewy texture.
Piggy Cooking Tips
the best way to store lemons
Lemons continue to respire and ripen after they have been harvested. The faster they respire the more carbon dioxide they produce, and the quicker they spoil. Store your lemons in the fridge to slow this down and they should keep for up to about ten days. Make sure you do not store them in plastic bags where they are on top of each other. When there is limited oxygen, the ethylene gas gets trapped, causing them to rot. Always bring them to room temperature to get the most juice out of them.
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Piggy Grunts!
Add Your GruntMy goodness, I cannot grunt loud enough about these cookies.
They truly taste oven-baked and are so satisfying with just the right balance of tart and sweet!!!
Divine!!!
Miss Stacey!
Thanks for coming and doing the first taste test!
You are my official taster now!
These are just so delicious!!!!!! Definitely give baked cookies a run for their money… Such an amazing combination of flavors… the ginger, dates and pecans go so well together!!! Perfect comfort treat for a lovely autumn’s day!!;)
Katy.
Coming from a strict vegan that is a huge compliment :)
Thankyou!
Minus the pecans, this was a great treat for my little allergy child…... pity she only got a couple as they were so delicious my husband & I polished off most of the first batch. YUMMMMY
These are excellent!!! Do you need to soak groats prior to mixing? Also did not have coconut oil so what can I substitute?
Thank you again for another hit!!!
It makes eating raw food and staying healthy and energetic sooooo easy
Hey Leslie,
I used coconut oil in this recipe to help bind the ingredients and give it a subtle coconut flavour. If you don’t want to use coconut oil you could try binding the mixture with a few more dates, some freshly squeezed apple juice and a touch of agave. It will change the personality of these cookies but it should still work.
Let me know how you go :)
Leslie
I am sorry, I forgot to say, you don’t need to soak the groats!
Tess they are in the dehydrator as I write this… 10 hours and counting !!
Not long now! I can’t wait to hear what you think.
ENJOY! Oink Oink :)
These were sinfully good.
The best vegan cookies I have had so far!
Tess they turned out great..I went visiting and brought them around for afternoon tea.. everyone loved them.. will deff make again!
Tash,
I am so pleased the cookies were a hit!
Thanks for letting me know.
I hope you are well. Oink Oink xx
I tried these this morning and had a couple of questions. First, is there a difference between oat groats and just the flaked oats you buy to make oatmeal? And second, I don’t have a dehydrator, so I did the oven version. If there is a bit of raw dough still in the center, should I refrigerate these to store them?
They are delicious! My first attempt at raw cookies! And I love your site, It has been so helpful as I begin my vegan journey.
Hey Karen,
Here’s the lowdown on oats:
Oats come in a variety of forms depending on how they are cut and rolled. “Whole oat berries” are exactly that; and need to be hulled to remove the hard outer shell in order to be fit for human consumption. Hulled oats or “oat groats” are similar in size and appearance to brown rice. Groats cook up quickly and have the whole outer bran layer of the kernel still in tact. But they are most often consumed as outmeal after a little more processing. “Steel-cut oats” or “pinhead oats”, sometimes referred to as “course oatmeal”, are made when the whole grain is put through steel cutters and cut into three or four smaller pieces. These still contain the whole grain and the oat bran, and are highly nutritious. “Rolled oats” or “old fashioned” oats are steamed groats that have been flattened with a roller. “Quick-cook” oats are old fashioned oats that have been steamed and rolled more thinly. “Instant Oats” have been steamed even longer and are the most finely cut and rolled oats.
If you are baking these cookies I would use steel cut oats for that have been minimally processed but still easy to work with. If you have any “raw” cookie dough, yes, just refrigerate the cookies.
This is the great thing about raw cookies, you can eat them any way you want! The main reason you dehydrate them is for texture.
I hope this helps :)
Oh let me tell you how yummy these cookies were… I love being Tess’s sample team and when she brought out these cookies me and a few others were literally fighting over the last one. Definitely give these a try!!!
Lyn and Gina!
You make me laugh. Hooray for healthy treats!
Thanks for the explanation! I guess I actually used rolled oats, then, which seemed to work well. The recipe calls for oat groats, so do they have to be soaked or cooked before using them here? My husband is enjoying eating these cookies and has no clue that he’s eating Vegan Cookies. LOL
LOL Karen! I LOVE it!
If you are not strictly raw you can totally use rolled oats for these cookies and they are amazing! AND a lot easier too :)
If you want to work with groats,i soak and dehydrate them first to make them more digestible and easier to work with. Enjoy :)
These are so rich and delicious that it’s hard to believe they are full of things that are good for you! And…..I don’t have to bake them!
Thanks for this wonderful treat, Tess!
I know! How good are these cookies?!
I can’t stop eating them!!!
I read with great interest about not using the coconut. Thanks for the oats lesson. Since I too don’t have a dehydrator, is there a baking temp and time you would suggest? Thx BG!
For those of you without dehydrators, you can try making these oatmeal cookies in a conventional oven by preheating your oven to 300 F, placing the cookies in, closing the oven door, turning the oven off and allowing it to cool with the cookies inside. The cookies should have a nice chewy texture.
You can repeat this process if you want them firmer.
These are SO easy and taste really close to regular baked cookies. Enjoy :)
Hi! I can’t wait to make this. I see you reccomend to dehydrate the oat groats after soaking them, I want to sprout them. Would it change the texture of the cookie and flavor if I don’t dehydrate them ? Thank you!
You can absolutely use them sprouted. You will just need to dehydrate them for longer. Enjoy! These are SO delicious :)
Wow! cant wait to make them Tess.. Will give you an update of the end product :)
Tash!
I would LOVE to get your feedback after making them. Please post and tell all.
I was thinking dried coconut flakes would be AWESOME in this…...