Coconut palm sugar changes more than the sweetness in these oatmeal raisin cookies. Its deeper flavor gives the baked cookies a caramel note and a darker color, while raisins add pockets of fruit through the oat-filled dough.
The recipe also swaps dairy butter for vegan butter and uses a gluten-free flour blend with rolled oats. Once shaped, the cookie dough gets a short freeze before it reaches the oven.
Coconut Palm Sugar Goes Into the Oat Mixture
Start with gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. Three-quarters of a cup of coconut palm sugar and just over three-quarters of a cup of rolled oats join the dry mix.
Coconut palm sugar has a brown color and caramel-like taste that carries into the cookies. There is no white or brown sugar in this recipe.
Vegan Butter, Egg, and Vanilla Form the Wet Mix
Vegan butter replaces dairy butter, while one egg and half a teaspoon of vanilla complete the wet ingredients. Mix them before adding them to the flour and oat mixture.
The dough becomes thick as the wet and dry ingredients come together. Mash the vegan butter through the oats until no loose sections remain, then fold in a third cup of raisins.
Raisins Add More Chew to the Oat Dough
Raisins bring concentrated fruit sweetness rather than the melted pockets that chocolate chips would create. Their chewy texture also matches the oats and soft cookie center.
Fold them through the finished dough so each portion gets several raisins. Wet hands help keep the thick mixture from sticking when it is time to shape the cookies.
Cookie Dough Gets 15 Minutes in the Freezer
Shape the dough into golf-ball-size portions before baking. Set the balls on a plate or baking sheet that fits in the freezer, then chill them for 15 minutes.
After chilling, move the dough to parchment-lined baking sheets with about two inches between each cookie. The recipe makes 16 cookies, with eight portions on each pan.
Twelve Minutes in the Oven Leaves the Cookies Soft
Bake the chilled dough at 350°F for 12 minutes. The cookies will still be soft when they come out, so transfer them to a cooling rack with care.
Another 10 to 15 minutes of cooling gives them time to set. The result keeps the oatmeal-raisin chew while coconut palm sugar brings the darker color and caramel note that sets these cookies apart.
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