August 30, 2012
(last updated January 27, 2020) 
As I may have mentioned, Wednesday marked my return to post-bacc life. In spite of my grumblings and expressions of dread, I’ll admit that I’m still very susceptible to “back to school” glee: the organizing, the purchasing of new pens. It’s all so hopeful and structured. For a while, anyway.
My extensive spreadsheets and calendars and shiny new pencil tips may not make it to October, but what will make it there, I’m sure, is my need for nourishing student snacks and after class treats. The most common email request I’m getting lately is for snack and packed lunch ideas, and I promise, I’ll be sharing. We can start with these adorable, healthy little cookies, stuffed with superfood ingredients!
I can’t decide what to call these guys. Breakfast cookies? Snack cookies? Dessert? They can be all of those things. They’re sweet and taste mildly of coconut (I use coconut oil in the recipe), but they’re not sugary, and you can modify the level of sweetness as you like. Obviously, part of my goal with these cookies was to pack in some antioxidant-rich superfoods, and I sure did: between the cacao nibs, the pumpkin seeds, and the pumpkin itself (which I use for moisture), the cookies are brimming with micronutrients and healthy fat. But they’re also tasty and satisfying: perfect with a glass of almond milk, after a long lab.
You can substitute applesauce or pureed pears for the pumpkin in this recipe if you like! And if you have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease, please be sure to purchase certified GF oats.
Superfoods Stuffed Vegan Oatmeal Cookies (vegan, GF option, soy free)
Makes 16-18 cookies
1 1/3 cup quick oats
1 cup oat flour
2 tbsp ground white chia seed
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
Dash salt
1/3 – 1/3 cup maple syrup (adjust as desired)
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup cacao nibs
1/2 cup goji berries
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the oats, oat flour, ground chia, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. Whisk together the syrup, oil, and pumpkin puree. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well. Add the pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, and goji berries, and incorporate them evenly.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.
The texture of these cookies is soft, not crispy, and they smell like fall.
Yum. It goes without saying that the cookies are good for little students, too–not just career changers like this girl! Feel free to make them super kid friendly by adding your childrens’ favorite goodies (raisins, chocolate chips) in place of any of the superfoods. Enjoy!
On a more somber note, did anyone read this story about Joshua Shelton, who is said to have killed 70,000 chickens while drunk? He accidentally cut of their food, water, and cooling fans at a factory farm. It’s terrible. As I read, I was both appalled and also cognizant of the fact that 286 chickens die every second in the US alone for human consumption, and so I don’t want our focus on this particular atrocity to take away from our general awareness of how dire things are. Still, I was deeply saddened, and also struck by how this massive crime was described in terms of human, financial losses, rather than in terms of life lost.
I’d invite you all to give some thought to this event tonight, and then to think about ways in which we can help to change and challenge a culture in which it’s possible for animals to be treated this way. News like this is deeply discouraging, but it also presents us with a chance to try to make a difference.
xo
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Delicious. They turned out a bit more like muffin cookies but still really fluffy and flavorful. I added almonds and raisins for texture, easy recipe to play around with. Thanks 🙂
I am stealing this recipe today!!! thank you xxxxx
These little cookies look so delish! I was looking around for superfoods based cookies and this post came up. Perfect!
Yum! I want to try these…Thinking I’m going to sub the cup of oat flour with coconut flour though…I’ll see if it works!
It’s difficult to find knowledgeable people for this subject, however, you seem like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! I’ve adapted it on site to be grain-free and GAPS friendly. Wish I could try yours, they look like they taste incredible! You can find the recipe here: http://acraftygourmet.blogspot.com/
These sound like the perfect thing to nibble on while I wait in the airport security lines on Monday mornings and rush from hotel to office Tues-Thurs. for the next 6 weeks. Thanks Gena!
ACE recipie, many thanks! You bring the light to one Bosnian-Herzegovinian vegan kitchen 🙂
That story is a very jarring, but thought-provoking story. I read this post yesterday, and story of this drunk man has really haunted my thoughts today. What will it take to prove that animals are beings and not commodities?
In happier news, these cookies sound so great to me- pumpkin oatmeal is one of my favorite types of cookies, and you’ve gone and made them even better with all of these super foods! Awesome!
Good luck with the fall semester! I love new office supplies, too.
One thing I think we can do is talk about our vegan food – including how delicious and healthy it is. Obviously your blog is that sort of platform, but for me that means that when people at work ask about my lunches I always explain what it is and why I’m eating it. My lunches typically look “strange” and people see them in the fridge and always question me. Plus I often have an assortment of fruit, sweet potatoes, and avocados sitting on my desk to supplement things, which is even stranger. I don’t focus on the issue of animal cruelty but instead just decribe what’s in my homemade burgers, hummus, salads, etc. and why I added hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, or quinoa to them.
I think a lot of people know intuitively that factory farming is cruel and inhumane, but they choose to ignore it. Facing that issue is incredibly hard for people, just like facing atrocities such as genocide are, and I think people choose to ignore it in the face of our huge emotional attachments to food. We don’t want to give up that thanksgiving turkey or that Sunday omelet ritual; we don’t want to hurt mom’s feelings by decling her meat loaf or spaghetti. So by focusing on the joys and benefits of veganism, instead of the atrocities of the meat and dairy industry, I think it makes it easier for people to realize that life without these things is not only possible, but quite amazing. And then, once they realize that, they can more easily stomach the horrors of factory farming.
Enjoy your long weekend!
Wheee, another recipe to use my newly purchased cacao nibs. I just thought yesterday that they must be great in cookies!
These look good!
Wanted to let you know about this upcoming green smoothie challenge 🙂
http://therealfoodrunner.blogspot.com/2012/08/back-to-school-green-smoothie-challenge.html
I come to read your posts with a whole different eye now: the eye that’s looking at something I might actually make! That shows that being in treatment was some sort of success, surely 😉
I’m finding myself looking for take-along snacks myself, and since during treatment I reversed my phobia of all grains and fell somewhat in love with gluten free oatmeal, it’s interesting that I seem to be constantly running into oat-based bar/cookie recipes–that I’m sure to love.
Thank you!
Love
Ela
those look great! i love all the “add ins!”
I will be making these tomorrow!
First, I totally feel you on the “back to school” excitement! Sometimes when I think I made a mistake in coming to grad school, I think of how lucky I’ll be to always have that “back to school” excited feeling. : )
These cookies look awesome.
That story is horrifying, but so good of you to point out that it’s kind of just a drop in the bucket. Thank you for your call for us to reflect on how we can contribute to making things change.
And with that…my pumpkin love is back with a vengeance.
Thank you!
That news is horrible! And yes, ironic about how the media chose to slant the story. Well, now I need comfort food. . . one of your cookies, maybe? And welcome back to post-bacc life! My little crystal ball is projecting lots of fun, study sessions, and a totally>/i> easy time with physics. 😉
So sad to hear about the chicken tragedy. It’s awful. Thanks for bringing the story to attention. Something to share with others, for sure.
These cookies remind me of something Angela, from OhSheGlows made awhile back. I think they were called trail mix cookies, or something along those lines. Reminds me that I need to get a stash of these going, my kids are always looking for snackish foods, these are perfect.
Enjoy your new pens, new routine, last semester! You’re going to to do great.
Just finished up a pumpkin cookie recipe myself (yours is much more health-infused though!) .. guess we are ready for fall. Well, the pumpkin part anyways 🙂 Looks beautiful – I want one of yours!!
Whoa, these look insanely delicious! All of my favorite superfoods all in one fabulous cookie 🙂 these will be devoured this weekend, no doubt about that! It’s been too long since I’ve made cookies
I was just thinking this week that I wanted to make some healthy cookies to fulfill a craving. These look superb and I have pumpkin in the pantry that’s been begging to be used!
man, i gotta say, the problem with this story isn’t that the dude got wasted and did something terrible, but that 70,000 birds could die simply because a dude got wasted. from the link:
“Without power, the chickens will begin to die within 15 minutes,” according to charging documents obtained by the paper.
dude, living creatures should not be kept in conditions where they would die withing 15 %@#! minutes without electricity. ugh, we do terrible things.
I read that earlier and like you, was completely horrified, but also reminded that senseless deaths happen like that every single day. Selfishly, I will admit that I’ve been having a rough week in terms of my own increased food/decreased activity and have wanted to default back to my “safe” options on many occasions. However, I’m keeping the vegan mindset and reminding myself that being uncomfortable for a short time is nothing compared to what certain animals that provide dairy and eggs must go through.
It’s keeping that compassion in mind that is helping me be compassionate towards myself and remembering that things are larger than myself, that my choices affect more than just me and my crazy OCD brain. Thank you again for the reminder. I’ll keep plugging along, hoping to gain not just weight, but additional perspective and health.
I seriously wish we were hose mates.
I’d love to come home to these cookies/biscuits creation!
Love everything in this recipe.
That is tradgic news, and just as tradgic that they only care about the money that was lost!
It is quite embarrassing that people can be so heartless.
I’m happy to help bring awareness as much as I can x
Sorry, house* or hose lol x
Many thanks for sharing these wholesome, yummy snack recipe– what lucky readers we sure are. I’m in the midst of the starting to what’ll be a rather grueling school semester (aka, all waking hours spent in the library!), so nutrient- dense food in my mouth quick is my go- to these days. So i welcome these kind of recipes alike, and am excited to the future ones. So grateful to have your blog to access for many a reasons, but this one especially. xoxo
These cookies look fantastic! They have so many of my favorite ingredients. I just know I’m going to love them.
I just made these cookies, and they are wonderful! They’re not too sweet, so they’ll be perfect for snacks or even as a part of breakfast! I didn’t have any goji berries, so I used dried cranberries instead and it worked great! Thanks for the recipe.
Gena they look awesome – the pumpkin puree, the pumpkin seeds, the oats and all the add ins, just delish! I’ll take a dozen 🙂
Hi Gena,
I’m a long time follower of your wonderful blog but am always too rushed too comment! I just wanted to thank you for being such an inspiration and a beautiful soul who really does make a difference to so many of our lives. I adore so many of your recipes (as does my 3 year old dd:) this story actually made me quite teary, I just can’t stand the thought of the suffering so many helpless creatures have to endure. Becoming vegan was a natural thing when I truly became conscious of how my choices DO make a difference. We are so powerful if we would just believe it. Thank you so much for believing it!
Mmm these cookies look scrumptious! What a great way to incorporate highly nutritious pumpkin. Another reason to look forward to the Fall, yey (besides my upcoming birthday =)
Thanks for sharing creative recipes Gena!
Oh wow! These look fabulous. I’m going to give them a try, subbing in some quinoa flakes (due to intolerance to oats). Thanks for such a great snack/breakfast/dessert idea!