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Chewy Vegan Trail Mix Cookies: an easy recipe for vegan trail mix cookies that are delightfully chewy and packed with healthy fruits, nuts and seeds!
I have a dirty little secret. I used to have a recipe called Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Cookies on my site. (I also used to have more of a life.) Heehee! Like, you know, where having an old recipe on my site wasn’t the sordid highlight of my life.
The thing is though, that that trail mix cookie recipe had me torn up for ages! It was what one might call a controversial vegan trail mix cookies recipe. As in, some people loved it and some people hated it. It was easy, it was chewy, it was vegan. But it didn’t quite yield consistent results.
Forgive me. That was years ago on BB, back when I had a small handful of recipes that I didn’t test to death like I do now. Well, I was so torn about that trail mix cookies recipe because readers would literally write emails & love poems to me about how much they loved it. And some other folks would write me SOS notes about how their cookies didn’t turn out right.
So, I made the decision to take that trail mix cookie recipe down until I could test it much more thoroughly and bring back my findings.
But then a year passed. And then another. And then another (I think…).
And I decided to scrap the whole thing and create a whole new vegan trail mix cookie recipe. One that was easy. One that was chewy. And one that was consistently good. Every time.
By now, I’m older, wiser, and way less foolish about what recipes I choose to share, and how much I test them (let’s just say A LOT). This is the Beaming Baker you know and rely on. So, if you’re ready, I’m ready to share my delicious, beloved Easy Chewy Vegan Trail Mix Cookies recipe with you!
How to Make Trail Mix Cookies
Preheat
Before starting, make sure to preheat your oven to 350°F. That way, it’s ready to go when your cookie dough is ready. 😉 Grab a baking sheet and line with parchment paper.
Mix the Dry Ingredients
Add all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Then, stir everything together until well mixed.
Whisk the Wet Ingredients
Now, add all of the wet ingredients to a medium mixing bowl and whisk together until well mixed.
Combine
Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients, then scrape the wet ingredient bowl dry so you don’t miss a drop. Use a spatula to combine wet and dry together until a tasty dough. Now, fold in your add-in ingredients.
Scoop
Using a cookie scoop, scoop and drop balls of trail mix cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Dot with optional topping, then flatten with a fork. Make sure to squish together any loose bits for a cohesive cookie.
Bake, Cool and Enjoy
Bake for about 13 minutes, then cool and enjoy the best vegan trail mix cookies!
🍪 Healthy Cookie Recipes For You: Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies • Healthy Vegan Cookie Dough Recipe • 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Tips for the Best Vegan Trail Mix Cookies
- Make sure to chop up your add-ins.
Add-ins are the best part of any cookie, IMO. But the worst part? The crumbliness. You can avoid that altogether by making sure your add-ins are chopped well—the biggest culprits are nuts and dried fruit. Chop thoroughly and bake the best trail mix cookies!
- Use your favorite nuts, seeds and chips.
Check out my guide below on how to customize your trail mix cookies. You can use your favorite nuts, seeds, nut butter and more!
- Squish the edges of your cookies together after flattening.
These trail mix cookies are deliciously packed with add-ins, but that means they’re a bit crumbly once flattened. Using your fingers, make sure to squish the dough back together! Once baked, your cookies will be deliciously chewy and hold together. 🙂
How to Customize Your Trail Mix Cookies
- Sub the Almond Butter: try using peanut butter, cashew butter or even pecan butter in these cookies. Try sunflower seeds butter or even homemade cashew butter.
- Sub the Vegan Chocolate Chips: use any kind of chocolate chips you’d like. Here are some of my faves: paleo | keto | allergy-friendly.
- Sub the Cranberries: you can use any dried fruit you like, just make sure to chopped the dried fruit into smaller pieces, as large ones will cause the cookies to become crumbly.
- Sub the Pumpkin Seeds: pumpkin seeds can be swapped for any type of seed that you’d like! I like using sunflower seeds on occasion. 😉
- Sub the Nuts: as long as your nuts are chopped, go ahead and use your favorite nuts (walnuts, almonds and pecans are a personal favorite). You can also sub these nuts for more seeds.
Chewy trail mix cookies that are easy to make, just so happen to be vegan, and made with healthy, whole ingredients.
Recommended Tools for the Best Chewy Trail Mix Cookies
- Medium Cookie Scoop: One of the most valuable tools in my vegan cookie making arsenal. It’s super easy to use, and allows me to create uniform cookie shapes in a fraction of the time it would take to scoop cookie dough manually. So useful!
- Unbleached Parchment Paper: I always line my baking sheets with this because it keeps the cookies from sticking, gives them wonderfully crispy bottoms, and makes it sooo easy to clean up afterwards. 😉
- My Favorite Prep Bowls: Okay, I seriously use these bowls all the time, in every recipe I make. Once you see how stress-free and easy it is to bake cookies when all your ingredients are pre-measured before you actually start mixing, you’ll never bake vegan cookies differently again. These bowls are the perfect size–not too small, not too big. Love ’em!
- Where to Buy Ingredients: Vegan Chocolate Chips | Gluten Free Rolled Oats | Coconut Sugar | Pure Maple Syrup | Ground Golden Flaxseed | Walnuts | Almonds | Pumpkin Seeds | Dried Cranberries | Pure Vanilla Extract
Are you ready to get your bake on? Let’s do this! I’ll grab the ground flaxseed, you grab your favorite add-ins! I seriously can’t wait to hear what you think of my vegan trail mix cookies recipe. Thankful that you’re here, sharing in these baking adventures with me. ‘Til the next one…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
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📸 Did you make this trail mix cookies recipe? Take a pic and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #beamingbaker & tag @beamingbaker. I’d love to see it! 📸
Tasty Cookie Recipes To Tempt You
- Simple Vegan Oatmeal Cookies – simple ‘n easy. Is there any better way? Delight in these warm ‘n cozy vegan cookies with deliciously chewy edges.
- Healthy Vegan No Bake Cookies – these nutrient-rich cookies come together in minutes & are perfect for on-the-go snacking.
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Coconut Cookies – just 4 ingredients and so easy to make. One of my fave chewy vegan cookies!
- Healthy Breakfast Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Cinnamon Cookies
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (V, GF)
Chewy Vegan Trail Mix Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons oat flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup unsalted natural creamy almond butter
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Add-ins
- 3 tablespoons vegan chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, chopped
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoons nuts, finely chopped
Optional Toppings
- 2-3 tablespoons vegan chocolate chips, cranberries, seeds, nuts,
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or greased foil. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture. Using a sturdy spatula, stir and fold until well mixed. Fold in Add-in ingredients.
- Using a small or medium cookie scoop, scoop and drop cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet—spaced evenly apart. Optionally, dot cookies with Optional Toppings. Using a fork, flatten cookies to desired thickness. If cookies crumble at the edges a bit after flattening—use your fingers to squish the edges back together.
- Bake for 11-15 minutes. Mine took 13 minutes. Place baking sheet on a cooling rack, allowing cookies to firm up for about 15 minutes. Using a heatproof spatula, transfer cookies directly onto the cooling rack. Allow to cool for 1 hour. Storing instructions below. Enjoy!
Notes
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Have you ever tried to add protein powder to these? Absolutely love this recipe and use it all the time!
Hi Isheta! So glad you like the cookies! 😊 I haven’t tried adding protein powder myself, so I can’t say for sure, but if you try it go in small increments to make sure the dissolving powder doesn’t prevent the cookies from holding together once baked. I’d love to hear how they turn out for you!
I just made this again for some company tomorrow. I made x2 of the recipe but only used x1 date sugar and date syrup. I also mashed 3 medium bananas so I was able to nix all oil and only 1/3 cup peanut butter. We have wayyy too much PB that I really need to use up. I already gave away 2 big containers! Hubby said to stop giving away his peanut butter! 😆 Anyway, the bananas made dough really wet so I kept adding oats. Maybe a total of extra 1 & 1/3 cups. Thanks so much again, Demeter! You have my baking heart! ❤️
Haha I have definitely been there with excess peanut butter I was trying to use up, so I feel you! 😂 I’m so glad that the date sugar worked out, and I’m pleased that you’re having such a good time baking. Here’s to many more hours of kitchen adventures!
Oh my goodness, Demeter! I have not made this for years and now I remember why! They’re so dang dangerously delicious! I have x2 of the batter in the fridge that I mixed today at noon. It’s been so hot here so I’m not planning on baking until tomorrow morning. I’m gifting x1 recipe to a family driving across the country and the other one is for us here. I’d been getting spoons of the mixture though and I have been thinking “I don’t really have to bake this, do I?!” So do I?! Thanks so much! ❤️
LOL I have asked myself that very question so many times, I can’t even tell you! It’s one of the reasons why I love vegan baking—you can freely eat the batter as much as you want. 😂 That’s so kind of you to make some for as a traveling gift. Hope it cools down a bit for you so you can squeeze in some baking!
So I ended up gifting half baked and half unbaked. Still waiting on opinions on baked versus unbaked versions. I remember that I liked them baked too. I only got the chance to try the unbaked version. I said that I was gifting x1 recipe but I ended up gifting all which made 13 4-tablespoon cookies. I’ll make another batch for us 😂
My modifications: avocado oil instead of coconut and because the almond butter I made was quite thick and more like an almond paste, I added 1tablespoon hot water to thin it out. I also added 3 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and hemp hearts and used 2 Mega Omega packets from Costco. Also added 3 tablespoons of dark chocolate chunks and those were dairy chips!
Oh and I also used date sugar and date syrup instead of coconut sugar and maple syrup. So yummy! Thanks again! ❤️
You’re so generous! What a kind friend you are. 🙂 I love hearing about the swaps—glad to know the date sugar and syrup worked for you! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the cookies, Michelle.
By the way, you probably know that I used to be a vegan and baking vegan is still my much preferred way to bake so I don’t have to worry about raw eggs! 🤮
These would make a great breakfast cookie or afternoon snack!
Exactly! They’re a very versatile cookie.
This is such an amazing cookie recipe! Everyone at my house loved it!
Awesome! Cookies ftw! 🙌
So many yummy flavors and textures. These are one of my favorites.
That’s just great to hear Krystle!
My kids couldn’t stop eating these cookies! They were so good and so easy to make. too!
Yay! Love knowing it was a hit with the little ones. 🙂
These cookies are rich and delicious. Perfect for our on the go breakfasts!
Yes! These are a great way to start the day.