These easy vegan oatmeal cookies can be eaten any time of the day and during any season.

I heard that Santa might really enjoy a good flavor-packed oatmeal cookie on Christmas Eve. Actually, oatmeal cookies with gems inside like rich chocolate chips, pecans and sweetened with dried cranberries are a great pick-me-up cookie when the 3 o’clock hour rolls around at work.

Cookies like these are nutritious and wonderfully easy to pack up and take on a cookie tray for the holidays.

Simply make these cookies more bite-sized and pack them up in a nice tin as a homemade gift.

No matter when you bake these cookies, only crumbs will be left on the tray when the evening is over.

Holiday Vegan Oatmeal Gem Cookies

1½ cups of all-purpose flour

1½ cups of quick cooking oats

5 ounces of vegan chocolate chips

¾ cup of dried cranberries

2/3 cup of raw pecans, chopped

1½ sticks of vegan butter at room temperature

1 cup of light brown sugar

¼ cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Substitute and Replacement plus 2 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon of almond milk, unsweetened and at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Set out butter, to get to room temperature.

Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Prepare your egg replacer by mixing egg replacer and water together and set aside a minute. (I found my replacer at our Big Lots. But you can get it online, too. I found this egg substitute works out best for me.)

In your stand-up mixing bowl, add your butter and your sugars and combine until light and fluffy. Add your vanilla and your egg replacer now. Mix again until smooth. On the lowest mixing speed, pour in your dry ingredients.

While the machine is still mixing everything, I carefully add my pecans, cranberries and the vegan chocolate chips. Just mix to combine.

On a parchment-lined sheet tray, I use my medium to large ice cream scoop (depending on what size cookie you want) and set each cookie in rows. I usually get 16-18 medium-sized cookies. Don’t place them too close. Slightly flatten each cookie out.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set and a bit brown around the edges. The center of the cookies will be a bit moist. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet pan for a little while to set up and then remove and send them to the cooling racks.

Store in airtight containers.

Sarah Schweitzer is dual-certified in Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry from the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. She is a former line cook for Chef Robert Irvine at “Fresh Kitchen by Robert Irvine” which was located at the Downtown Allentown Market. Sarah is currently working as a sous-chef at Ateira’s on First and has her own blog simplysarah.online. She can be reached at sarah.schweitzer18@gmail.com.