These vegan peppermint chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal are completely plant based and baked with chocolatey goodness – perfect for Christmas cookie swaps or holiday parties!
One of my favourite holiday traditions is to do a cookie exchange this time of year. I love the idea of getting a nice variety of cookies to share with coworkers, friends and family, especially because I get bored of eating ONE type of cookie from a single batch. This year, my family and I are all putting together a little cookie exchange, and these vegan peppermint chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal are going to be my contribution.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
When I set out to create plant-based holiday cookies, I knew it had to be both festive and delicious.
It’s surprisingly easy to make a classic cookie vegan or dairy free with just a few simple substitutions. I swapped out regular butter with vegan butter, I used dairy free dark chocolate and I used a chia egg instead of a regular egg.
After the swaps were done, I added in the classic delicious holiday-themed ingredients: peppermint extract and candy canes, to give these cookies the true Christmas feel. Plus, can you really ever go wrong with peppermint and chocolate?
Key Ingredients
Chia Egg – It’s so simple to make a chia egg at home as a plant based alternative to a real egg (with added omega 3s). I just mix together some ground chia with water and let it sit in the fridge for 20 minutes until gloopy. Then I add the chia egg to my vegan cookie batter recipe with the rest of the wet ingredients. The standard ratio for a chia egg is about 1 part chia to 3 parts water, but if you don’t have chia seeds, you can also use flax or any egg replacer!
Quick Oats – Not only does this ingredient give this this recipe the delicious chew of an oatmeal cookie, they also bump up the fibre and satiety factor of the cookies! Win-win!
Vegan Butter – Every delicious cookie needs butter to make it soft and chewy, and the swapping regular butter for vegan butter ensures that these cookies stay plant-based. Easy peasy.
Chocolate Chips – Is a cookie really a cookie without chocolate chips? Although the cocoa powder in this recipe gives these cookies a chocolate-y flavour, the chocolate chips make sure that you have a little piece of extra chocolate in every bite. Just make sure your chocolate chips contain no milk ingredients if you want to keep these cookies vegan.
Peppermint Extract & Candy Canes – These ingredients work together to give this recipe it’s delicious holiday feel. The extract flavours the whole recipe with delicious peppermint, and the crushed candy canes are not only super festive, but also a very pretty addition to the top of the cookie.
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper. Mix together the chia and water and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Step 2: In a bowl, mix together the oats, flour, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon and salt. To another bowl, cream together the butter with brown sugar using electric beaters until fluffy. Add in the vanilla and peppermint, along with the chia egg or regular egg. Add the wet to the dry, and fold in the chocolate chips.
Step 3: Roll into one tablespoon balls, flatten slightly on a baking sheet with an inch between them and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
Step 4: Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
If you find you take your chia egg out of the fridge and it still seems too runny, no problem! Pop it back in the fridge for another 5-10 minutes so it can harden more. Alternatively, if your chia egg appears too thick, you can also add some more water to thin it out until you have an egg-like consistency.
If you would like to make bigger cookies, you can roll the dough into 1 and a half or 2 tablespoon balls. However, be sure to space these out more on the parchment sheets, as they will expand when baking.
Recipe FAQs
If you don’t need these double chocolate chip oatmeal cookies to be plant based, then you can use a real egg and real butter in the recipe, along with chocolate that contains some dairy.
Are candy canes vegan?
Technically, candy canes should be, as most candy canes are just sugar, peppermint flavouring and food colouring. However, some food dyes have been tested on animals so if you’re truly strict about this, then you’ll want to look for an explicitly labelled vegan candy cane.
I tried REALLY hard to make these gluten free, but you know what, they just fell apart. Cookies need the gluten to be chewy and delicious, so I think it’s a lot to ask these oatmeal cookies to be both vegan and gluten free. If you want to experiment with a gluten free flour, by all means, you do you. But I don’t expect it will work out so well.
These are definitely chewy double chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, which is my preference. If you want them to be more crispy, you could flatten them out even more until they’re pretty thin, and bake them a bit longer.
You can make these double chocolate chip oat cookies about a week ahead and store in an air tight container. recommend freezing them on a baking sheet lined with a silpat and then transferring the frozen cookies to a freezer bag.
More Recipes You May Like
If you love allergen friendly desserts, like these vegan chocolate peppermint cookies, give these other delicious cookie recipes a try!
- Gluten Free Almond Cherry Meringue cookies
- Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Tahini Cookies
- Vegan & Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
What are some of your favourite nostalgic holiday recipes? Let me know in the comments below!
Vegan Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground chia seeds + 6 tbsp water or one regular egg
- 1 1/2 cups quick oats
- 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegan or regular butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips dairy free, if desired
- 3 tbsp crushed chopped candy canes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper.
- Mix together the chia and water and place in the fridge for 20 minutes. Omit if you do not want to make this vegan and simply use a regular egg.
- In a bowl, mix together the oats, flour, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon and salt.
- To another bowl, cream together the butter with brown sugar using electric beaters until fluffy. Add in the vanilla and peppermint, along with the chia egg or regular egg.
- Add the wet to the dry, and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Roll into one tablespoon balls, flatten slightly on a baking sheet with an inch between them and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
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