Vegan Oat & Apricot Cookies, heart-shaped!

Valentine’s Day is the next big event on the calendar and these Vegan Oat & Apricot Cookies are perfect for shaping into hearts to share with your loved ones. I say loved ones as I am sure these gorgeous cookies, as a homemade gift, will be greatly received by anyone. In these times of so many having to stay indoors, this would be a great easy gift to cheer up a family member, friend, or neighbour!

So why not share the love ????

Main Ingredients

Oats – high in antioxidants,  they help lower cholesterol and improve blood sugar levels.  Per 100 g  they contain 10.6 g of fibre and 16.9 g of protein.

Apricots – high in antioxidants and high levels of vitamin A amongst many other vitamins and minerals.  Per 100g they contain 2 g of fibre and 1.4 g of protein.   Check out the benefits here!

Of course, these cookies are not just for Valentine’s, they are for life! ????

Therefore, I have made them both heart-shaped and circle-shaped so you can see how they look in both shape forms. And I have left some without chocolate as this is optional. Although I have included chocolate in the calories per cookie.

Did You Know?

Apricots originally came from Asia over 4000 years ago and they actually belong to the Rose family! They are great for eye health with their high levels of vitamin A and are cholesterol-free.

Oats are at least 7000 years old and said to be great for the health of your heart! Oats are naturally gluten free, but if you follow a gluten free diet you may want to check that the oats you use have been certified gluten free. This is because oats are manufactured with other cereals that could contaminate the oats.

Techniques used to make these Vegan Oat & Apricot Cookies

Well, there’s nothing really technical to making these cookies. However, you do need a heart-shaped cookie cutter, or similar, if you want to make them heart-shaped and not just circle-shaped.

It’s a really quick process to form the dough so start by preheating the oven as per recipe directions. Then lightly rub the butter into the flour – it becomes quite sticky quickly and that’s when you should add the rest of the ingredients and bring them together to form the dough.

I like to use my hands but you can use a wooden spoon if you are not keen on having your hands too sticky.

Then, line or grease an oven tray and place your heart-shaped cookie cutter, if using, on the tray. Place a spoonful into the middle of the cutter and, using a knife, smooth the dough pushing it right to the edges of the cutter so you get a clean edge when you lift the cutter off.

Next, gently lift the cutter, using the knife to ensure the dough does not lift with it.

If you don’t have a heart-shaped cookie cutter and just want to make the regular circle-shaped/round cookies, you don’t even need a cutter to do this.

Just place a spoonful on the lined/greased oven tray and flatten and shape with a knife.

When you have finished shaping the cookies, place them in the middle of the oven, and bake for 15 minutes.

Place the cooked cookies on a wire rack to cool. You may need to gently lift/slide them with a knife if a little stuck.

Decorating these vegan oat & apricot cookies with chocolate

This part is optional but if you are decorating your cookies with chocolate it’s really easy to do – it must be if I can do it, I am not very artistic!

It is also better if you wait until the cookies are completely cool before decorating them. This is so the chocolate will set quicker.

Place the chocolate in a microwavable bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time until the chocolate starts to melt. Then reduce the amount of time to about 10 seconds. You do not need to completely melt it as you can stir any small lumps to melt them completely. See my Vegan Date & Chocolate Cookies for more on melting Chocolate.

Once the chocolate is melted, load a teaspoon with the melted chocolate. Let a little come off the spoon whilst still over the bowl as the first bit of the spoon is usually a bit thicker thus forming a blob on the cookie rather than a strand. Then repeat until you are happy with the result.

It’s a good idea to do this whilst the cookies are still on the wire rack so any spillages run down and stop the chocolate from setting the cookies to the plate.

For the circle-shaped cookies, I did strands both ways and left half uncovered to show the contrast between them.

If you have room, place the cookies in the fridge to set the chocolate. These cookies should be stored in an airtight container and will last several days.

Just For Fun

The famous producer, Quaker Oats, first produced their packaging in 1877. They have changed the ‘Quaker Man’ image on the packaging 3 times since then. Drop me a comment with the dates of those changes in the comments box below the recipe. ????????

Here’s a little Trivia challenge for you – again, post your answers in the comments box below ????????

1. In which country did Valentine’s Day start?
2. Who, in America, was the first person to commercialise Valentine’s cards, back in the 1800s?
3. From which country did this person get the idea?

Happy cookie making and ENJOY! ????????????????????