As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’ve designated April as the month for cleaning up my eating habits—for eating well-rounded, home-made meals, lots of fresh produce, and perhaps a few sweet, but not overly indulgent, treats. As usual, I place the emphasis on the “treats” part, but I consider this recipe for vegan carrot-oatmeal cookies a compromise. They work as a hearty snack or a dessert with a tall glass of milk. These cookies are a satisfying cross between pumpkin bread, carrot cake and, oddly enough, coconut macaroons. I found the recipe on cookbook author Heidi Swanson’s website, 101 Cookbooks, and made quite a few tweaks from her original recipe.

Ingredients: 1 heaping cup whole wheat pastry flour (or whatever type of flour you have on hand), 1 cup oats, 2/3 cup nuts (grated carrots, 1/2 cup honey or real maple syrup, and 1/2 cup unrefined coconut milk, warmed just until melted, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a few shakes of ground nutmeg.

In Heidi’s original recipe, she uses walnuts and maple syrup where I used pecans and honey, but, as she mentions, the recipe is quite versatile and infinitely adaptable. As I was putting the recipe together I thought shredded coconut, dried cranberries, cherries, or dates (perhaps with a handful of extra-dark chocolate chips) would be just as delicious as the grated carrots. With the cranberries and cherries, I might omit the cinnamon and nutmeg and use a few tablespoons of orange zest or lemon zest instead.

As with most cookie recipes, mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another, and then slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry until a soft dough forms. Then, form the dough into 1-inch balls, roll the balls in cinnamon sugar and then bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

These cookies are crispy on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside.

As a sidenote, I admit I was tempted to whip up some rich cream cheese frosting to top these lovelies off, but considering April is supposed to be all about my healthy eating initiative, I didn’t do it. And let me tell you, it took a lot of restraint…