Dairy Free Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are delicious, but I usually think of chocolate chips or raisins as the star flavors here.  Lemon is an unexpected flavor in an oatmeal cookie, but these Dairy Free Lemon Oatmeal Cookies are pretty darn good! They are super chewy with a smooth lemon taste that is light and enjoyable.  I love chocolate as much as the next chocoholic, but a light, dairy free cookie is a nice way to mix it up.

 

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Cookie Inspiration

 

I love cookbooks and I love browsing Goodwill’s book section for them.  About two years ago, I found a pretty decent healthy cookbook, The Best Life Diet Cookbook, and I have used it a lot for my meal planning.  Well, a few months ago I stumbled upon their recipe for Lemon Oatmeal Cookies, but I was really underwhelmed.  They were flat, crumbly, sad little circles of lemon flavored oats.

 

Boo.  It only made a handful of cookies and they were miserable looking and tasting!  But, I was inspired to create my own recipe for tasty Lemon Oatmeal Cookies using this one as a guide.  That’s what I love about baking. Yes, this recipe in a published cookbook was terrible, but I knew I could completely change it around to make a great treat.  Blunders in the kitchen are only failures if you refuse to learn.

 

 

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies In Development

 

The original recipe made a tiny amount of cookies, which is not terrible, but I knew I wanted a bigger batch, so I doubled most of the ingredients.  These cookies also needed an ingredient to make them slightly smoother, while retaining the chewy, meaty texture of oatmeal cookies. Instead of just using oats for my dry base, I subbed in some all- purpose flour.

To help with the loose cookie dough, I added an egg.  Yep, the original recipe was vegan! Sorry vegan friends, but I just needed to bind the dough together.  I imagine you could easily skip the egg and use a flax egg or even just a tablespoon of non-dairy milk. The egg does help the oatmeal cookies be a bit chewy and fluffy, so the texture will be a bit different, though still tasty.

 

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A Lemony Balance

 

One whole lemon, zest and juice, was enough for a subtle lemon flavor.  Very present, but not like eating a Lysol oatmeal cookie. Just to be sure the flavor was smooth, I added some vanilla extract.  I also swapped the olive oil from the original recipe for melted coconut oil. Olive oil would have too strong a flavor to work in this cookie, in my opinion.

There was one last issue to fix, the texture.  Oatmeal cookies are not smooth and soft, but if they’re too rough, it’s not a pleasant feel in your mouth.  Adding the egg (a liquid) would help soften the oats, but I wanted to break them down just a bit too. That’s when I thought about how easy it is to make biscuits and pie crust in a food processor.

 

 

 

Cookies Made Easy

 

It was super easy to dump all of the ingredients into a food processor (blender should work too) and run it long enough to combine everything.  After the first whirl, I scraped down the sides and did one more whirl (10- 20 seconds). I would be careful to not over- process, otherwise your oats will become too small and the texture won’t be just right.

I assumed I would have to refrigerate the dough once I pulled it together because the first batch did not hold together at all.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have to! By adding an egg and all- purpose flour, the dough was soft enough to absorb the moisture and stick to itself (if that makes any sense).

 

Related Reading: Dairy Free Vanilla Macarons

 

Scooping and Baking

 

Absolutely, 1,000% I suggest you use a small cookie scoop to dispense these Dairy Free Lemon Oatmeal Cookies.  The dough is soft and would be a mess to do by hand, and a tablespoon would still be messy, though much better than hands.  I easily scooped out the cookies and baked them for 10 minutes.  They were just lightly golden brown on the bottom, so if you prefer a darker cookie, you could do up to 12 minutes.  Since I used the cookie scoop, they kept a beautifully circular shape! 

Update: I just made another batch, but this time I placed one baking sheet in the fridge while the first pan baked.  The chilled pan came out a bit plumper and firmer.  So, if you want a puffier cookie, just chill the dough for 10 minutes.  Totally optional though!

 

 

Enjoy!

Enjoy chewy, dairy free Lemon Oatmeal Cookies for a nice break from the standard, though delicious, (especially these ones) chocolate chip cookies.  The lemon flavor is smooth and a piece of sunshine in a cookie! Don’t forget to subscribe to Bakes & Blunders so that you can get access to my Resource Library, including my Ingredient Glossary, so you can create your own recipes!

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