The Best Butter Substitute To Use For Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are a staple cookie variety, right up there with sea salt chocolate chip and sugar. Besides the obvious addition of fiber, oatmeal cookies get a boost of protein and minerals from the other mix-ins. However, those benefits usually come secondary to their delicious sweet and nutty flavor and chewy texture. The cookies can be made with anything from dried fruits to chocolate chips and from walnuts to peanut butter — and there's no reason why you can't make them vegan with a butter substitute, as long as you choose the best one.

There are lots of dairy-free butter alternatives on the market — aside from the ever growing list of butter substitutes — including everything from chia seed eggs to applesauce. However, when it comes to choosing the best one for your vegan oatmeal cookies, it's almost always going to be melted coconut oil. Unlike other oils, coconut oil acts similarly to butter in that it solidifies, softens, and melts depending on the temperature. Plus, it's packed with healthy, unsaturated fats that make all of your vegan baked goods more flavorful.

Use coconut oil in your vegan oatmeal cookies by melting and mixing it with water or a plant based milk. Simply substitute ¾ of the butter that's called for with coconut oil, pop it in the microwave, and then mix it with the remaining ¼ amount of water or milk alternative. Then, carry on with your recipe.

There's a reason why Tasting Table recipe developer, Ting Dalton's, recipe for the best oatmeal raisin cookies calls for melted better — it creates that signature chewy, fudge-like texture and prevents cakiness. So by those standards, the best vegan oatmeal raisin cookies would require you to use the best vegan butter substitute: coconut oil. Unrefined varieties will affect the flavor much less and won't leave a noticeable trace of coconut (even though the nutty flavor would only complement the oatmeal). It also gives the cookies that light, chewy texture that people look for in oatmeal cookies. Still, if you want to play around with different textures, you can try experimenting with other substitutes.

A vegan butter alternative is always an option, as it will also act like butter and give a similar chewy texture (no water mixing necessary). Other substitutes for a similar texture include vegetable shortening and margarine, which can both be substituted at a 1:1 ratio without imparting flavor. But if you want, you could also try something like peanut butter, which would obviously give the cookies a peanut butter flavor. Depending on the mix-ins you like, that could be a good thing, as it pairs well with everything from fruits and other nuts to chocolate chips. Simply mix it with equal parts oil to thin it out and replace it with your butter at a 1:1 ratio to give your cookies a denser texture and a protein boost.