My recent favorite healthy snack/breakfast/dessert are these Chewy Vegan Chai-Spiced Cookies. Last year, I developed a Healthy Breakfast Cookie that you all seemed to like quite a bit. And I get why— they’re cookies that are healthy enough to eat for breakfast but are actually tasty (they don’t taste like wheat germ or bran flakes).
With fall quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to develop a similar oatmeal-style cookie with fall flavors. Enter these Chewy Vegan Chai-Spiced Cookies.
They’re made with wholesome ingredients like oats, almond butter, and seeds and feel like a classic oat meal cookie, but they have the warming flavors of Indian masala chai floating throughout. Which means they are extra delicious and perfect for the fall baking season!
Plus, with 4 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber per cookie, this is the kind of cookie that will actually fill you up! It works great for breakfast as well as pre- and post-workout snacks.
Need more ideas for how to incorporate plant protein into your diet? Check out my roundup of The 5 Best Vegan Protein Sources!
What is Chai?
Chai simply means “tea” in Hindi, so when you’ order a “a chai tea latte,” you’re basically saying “I’d like to order a tea tea latte”). Chai refers to black tea, though you can use decaffeinated black tea.
Indian masala chai (“masala” means a mixture of ground spices), then, is spiced black tea. It can contain a number of different spices and there’s great variety across Indian households, with each family having its own preferred blend. My mom typically makes masala chai with cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and black pepper, so that’s what I use in this recipe (along with a tad of allspice).
My mom also adds lemongrass and mint to her chai, which are bit less traditional and excellent in tea but not really great in cookies, so I left those out too.
Why you’ll like these cookies
Easy to make. This is one of the easiest cookie recipes. No creaming required, the cookies don’t spread, and they’re so straightforward that even the kids can help make them.
Delightfully chewy. If you’re like most people, you like chewy cookies. These cookies are incredibly chewy with crunchy bites of seeds and even more chewy bites from the dried fruit.
Wholesome. These are cookies you can feel good about! They’re made with ingredients that are perfectly acceptable for breakfast, which means you can happily eat cookies for breakfast. They’re vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and soy-free.
Chai-Spiced. If you enjoy the warming, aromatic flavors of Indian chai, you’ll love the warm flavor in these cookies. My homemade chai spice blend is made with lots of cinnamon, along with freshly ground cardamom (makes a huge difference!).
Looking for another warming dessert to make this season? Check out my Vegan Apple Crisp!
Versatile. You can eat these cookies for breakfast, but they’re also a great post- or pre-workout snack. And of course, you can also eat them for dessert.
Easy to customize. Feel free to get creative with this recipe and mix and match your favorite ingredients. Customization ideas are in “substitutes” section below.
How to make these cookies
Start by making your flax eggs. Mix together the flaxseed meal with water, and set aside for 15 minutes to thicken.
Then, make the chai spice blend. Split open the cardamom pods and crush the black seeds using a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder). Mix the ground cardamom with the other chai spices.
Then, finely chop your pistachios.
Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: oats, coconut, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and Chai Spice Blend.
And mix together the wet ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth: prepared flax egg, almond butter, maple syrup, and vanilla.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk together until the mixture resembles cookie dough.
Then, fold in your mix-ins: dried fruit, seeds, and nuts.
Scoop about 3 tablespoons cookie dough onto lined baking sheets, 1/2-inch apart. Bake at 350ºF/175ºC for 17-20 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack.
Tips for making these cookies
Make sure you use a drippy, smooth nut butter. Do not use a crunchy variety, or the dried remnants from the bottom of a jar. You need a smooth, creamy variety, as it’s the oil replacer in this recipe.
If you can get whole cardamom, it makes a world of a difference when you crush it finely. This is how traditional Indian chai is made, and it brings an indescribable and complex sweet yet spicy flavor to this cookies.
You can find whole green cardamom pods online or in South Asian grocery stores. McCormick carries one in a spice bottle as well). If you can’t find whole cardamom pods, you can use whole cardamom seeds like this (affiliate links).
Check the oven at the 17 minute mark, as every oven is different. Use an oven thermometer (affiliate link) if you have one, as most home ovens take longer to preheat than they state.
Substitutes for these cookies
Not a fan of coconut? Omit the shredded coconut and just add more oats.
Allergic to almonds or don’t have almond butter? Use any nut butter you like, such as cashew butter or peanut butter. Just be sure to use a smooth, not crunchy, variety, as the nut butter is the replacement for oil in this recipe.
To make these cookies nut-free, substitute the nut butter with tahini, but make sure to use a smooth, non-bitter variety like Soom Tahini, Seed + Mill, or the Whole Foods 365 brand (affiliate links), and stir well so the sesame paste mixes with the oil. Or you could try Sunbutter sunflower seed butter. It will likely tinge your cookies green (that’s what happens when you bake with sunflower seeds) but the taste will be great. Also, replace the pistachios with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
For the dried fruit, I used a mixture of finely chopped dates and apricots, but you could really use any variety you like. Other options include cranberries, cherries, raisins, or finely chopped mango.
And if you’re not a fan of dried fruit at all, feel free to substitute with dairy-free chocolate chips. I love the chewiness that dried fruit brings, but you can also never go wrong with chocolate.
And if you don’t have pistachios, you can try chopped walnuts, almonds, or pecans; or even pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
If you give this Chewy Vegan Chai-Spiced Cookies recipe a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please comment with your feedback below!
Vegan Chai-Spiced Cookies (and 40 more Vegan Breakfast Ideas!)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (16g) ground flaxseed meal
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (190g) (certified gluten-free, as needed)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup smooth, creamy almond butter or cashew butter**
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Chai Spice Blend
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly crushed cardamom*, plus more to taste as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more to taste as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- Pinch of black pepper**
Mix-ins
- 1/3 cup (50g) hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup finely chopped dates (90-100g), or other dried fruit (see “substitutes” section in blog post)
- 1/3 cup shelled pistachios (45g), chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the flax eggs. Combine the ground flaxseed meal with 5 tablespoons water. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes to gel together.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF/175ºC. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Make the Chai Spice Blend. Mix all the spices until well combined.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: the oats, coconut, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and Chai Spice Blend.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: flax eggs, almond butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, using a silicone spatula to mix everything until the mixture resembles a cookie dough. Fold in Mix-ins: dates or raisins, hemp seeds, and pistachios. Taste the dough. If desired, add a bit more cardamom or nutmeg to taste.
- If the dough is too sticky to handle (more likely if you’re kitchen is warm), refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to firm up slightly.
- Use an ice cream scoop to scoop about 3 tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets (this scoop holds about 3 tablespoons), spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. Alternatively, measure out 3 tablespoons and shape the dough into a round using your hands. Lightly flatten the top of each cookie with your hands or a fork.
- Bake the cookies for 17-20 minutes, or until cookies are baked through, slightly brown on the bottom, and chewy. After 5 minutes, use a spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. These cookies aren’t too delicate, so you can start enjoying them shortly afterwards. Store leftover cookies in an airtight container or resealable bag on the counter for 2-3 days.
Notes
I was invited to a cookie exchange the day of the event. There was just one problem – I didn’t have a good recipe for cookies!. I thought what am I gonna do? What else, check out my go-to, rockstar food blogger, rainbowplantlife, to see what she has! And sure enough, I found these awesome tasting, yet healthy and easy to make cookies! Best of all, the cookies were a hit at the exchange, were gone in no time, and one lady even asked for the recipe before the night was out!
We’re over the moon to hear everyone enjoyed the recipe, Dave. Thanks for your kind words!
These look wonderful. Would they hold up well to be frozen? I would love to be able to make them ahead of time. Thanks!
Hi Trish, yes most definitely! They take just 15ish minutes to defrost, so you can enjoy them really any time. After baking, allow the cookies to cool completely. Store them in a freezer-safe zip-top bag and label with the name and date. They should be good for about 3 months.
Enjoy!
Thanks! I just made a batch and am putting them in the freezer to save for Thanksgiving. They are yummy!
Awesome, Trish! Great to hear :)
Not only do they taste delicious, they make the entire house smell incredible. It’s a joy to prepare, bake, and eat!
Thanks for the lovely review, Elizabeth! :)
Made these today. Used cranberries and pumpkin seeds as the add-ins. Did not use the coconut as my family is not a fan. They turned out great!
Manon, So glad to hear everyone loved this recipe!
Hi! If I omit the coconut, should I replace it with something?
Hi Caroline, you can omit the shredded coconut and just add more oats!
I’ve made these several times. They are a big hit with everyone…vegan or not.
Awesome, Diane. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to review!
Always an adventure making a new Nisha recipe.
I have a love-hate relationship with Nisha’s recipes. So many ingredients, and so long to make. I’m not a kitchen wizard, so I’m slow and it always takes forever.
But the RESULTS!!!
As long as I’m not using butternut squash, every Nisha recipe I’ve made has been exquisitely delicious. Maybe I’ll eventually get better in the kitchen.
I didn’t have 2 cookies sheets, so made two batches.
I should have used a slightly larger mixing bowl for the oats – that’s where everything ends up, and mine was a bit too full for thorough mixing once all the ingredients had been added.
I should have ground the cardamom & cloves more finely. Or used pre-ground.
It definitely helps to put the mixture into the refrigerator before making it into cookies. The 2nd batch was better.
I didn’t like using the ice cream scoop.
It was a lot easier than I expected. (I always think it’s going to take 10 minutes per ingredient or something.)
Made a total of 19 cookies, of varying sizes. Approximately 90 minutes start to finish, including clean up.
Better spice grinding, better mixing would have helped these. Still, they are orders of magnitude better than any store-bought breakfast bar I’ve eaten.
The chai spice mixture gives these a “warm” taste-feeling even when they’re more than a day after making.
10/10 will make again.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and lengthy review, K! And thanks for trying out the recipes. It warms our hearts to hear you always enjoy them :)
So yummy! I’ve experimented with other recipes of chai-spiced breakfast cookies previously, and these are the best I’ve ever had! They’re so yummy! They are the perfect sweetness for a breakfast cookie. I added craisins and raisins to mine and they were delicious!
Thank you for your lovely comment, Haley! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
These are really good! I used whole almonds in the blender with a little peanut butter because that is what I had and pecans in place of pistachios. Honey in place of maple syrup, sorry bees :( Love the spice blend!! A few of them did not hold together very well, probably because no eggs, but that’s ok.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us, Jennifer. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies- Your review is much appreciated.
Absolutely divine!
Hi Yanet, thanks for reminding me of these delicious cookies! So glad you enjoyed them :)
Tried making these today, subbing sultanas for the dates – delicious! Highly recommend having them while still warm, with a cuppa tea and a fuzzy lap cat.
Hi Bee, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
I love these. I freeze them and they’re great as a breakfast/snack.
Jen, So glad to hear you love this recipe!
Thanks. I haven’t made these yet, but was reading comments to see if they were freezable. I figured they would be.
Very satisfying and perfect texture! I used dried plums and figs because I didn’t have dates and they worked out great.
Thanks for sharing, Virginie!
I’m dying to make these but I don’t have an oven :( can I use a toaster oven instead? Thanks in advance!!
Hi Marvella, from what we read online it should work well! Just make sure to change the setting to “bake” instead of toast. Enjoy!
These are delicious! I was worried they would be dry or crumbly when making the dough, but they hold together so well.
Jocelyn, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
I freaking love these. I’ve made them many times now, I mix in cacao nibs, walnuts and date chunks, delicious! Pro tip: triple the chai spice mix so you can easily whip up another batch later
Ilonka, So glad to hear you loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing :)
Love these.
Wonderful to hear, Emily!
Absolutely delicious – I’ll definitely be making these regularly. Perfect for breakfast on the go or to bring along on a hike. Thanks for another wonderful recipe Nisha!
Michele, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
This are FABULOUS!!!! I would like to know if they can be frozen.
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Connie!
Hi! I want to try it out but I wonder if I can substitute maple syrup for sugar?
It’s pretty expensive here in Japan…
Yes that will work, Yana! Agave works too.