I really do believe that oats are one of the most versatile ingredients that you can have in your pantry.  They can be prepared as intended as oatmeal, and varied by adding virtually any mix-ins to make them either sweet or savory.  Or both!  [I’ll digress here for a moment and leave the menu for NYC’s Oatmeals as oatspiration – I dare you to tell me they’re are boring after seeing this selection.]

Another thing I like about oats is that they’re low maintenance AF.  They can be cooked on the stove, in the microwave, in the oven, or not even cooked at all and just soaked overnight in the fridge.  Talk about easygoing.

I also happen to love the way plain unflavored/unsweetened oats taste, though I know I’m the only person in the world to hold this opinion.  Welcome to the plain oats party, population me.

Anyways, I decided to use the world’s most versatile ingredient and experiment with different flavor profiles in cookies.  Scroll down for the ingredients for my five of my favorite combinations.  In each of the recipes, all I did was mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and then spoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper – prep time for each was literally 5-10 minutes.  Individual nutrition facts and baking time are listed for each.

Banana Pepita

Why they’re great: These are the OG oatmeal cookie.  They’re quick and easy, there’s no added sugar asides from what’s in the banana, and the batter is easy to work with and not messy at all.  They’re also really versatile – you can add almost any mix-ins (any nut/seed, or any type of chocolate/candy) and they will still be yummy.

Why you can skip them: I’ve got nothing.  If you make ONE of these recipes, it should be this one.

Ingredients: 

1. 1 cup oats
2. 1 banana
3. 1 oz pepitas (pumpkin seeds) – you can swap this for any mix-in that you prefer
4. 1 egg
5. 1 tsp vanilla
6. Cinnamon to taste
7. 1/4 tsp baking soda
8. 1/2 scoop protein (I used Rootz Nutrition – Use code LUXE for 10% off!)

Bake for 9-10 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Yield for the ingredients listed above is 2 giant cookies, or 4 regular sized ones.

Stats Per Cookie (I made two giant cookies out of the whole recipe) – Calories 341 P15/C50/F9.

Maple Hazelnut

Why they’re great:  These are simple, easy to make, and have a great crunch.  I actually didn’t think they’d hold together cause the batter looked more like granola than cookie dough, but they cooperated nicely.  They’re also pretty low in calories. They also photograph the best of all of the cookies that I made.

Why you can skip them: These aren’t very sweet and have a mild flavor.  If you’re trying to mask the flavor of oats, you’ll have to add more sweetener.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup oats
2. 2 tbsp maple syrup (or sweetener of choice)
3. 1 egg
4. 1 tsp vanilla
5. Cinnamon to taste
6. 1 oz hazelnuts

Bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Yield for the ingredients listed above is 2 giant cookies, or 4 regular sized ones.

Stats Per Cookie (I made two giant cookies out of the whole recipe) – Calories 297 P10/C38/F11.

Pumpkin

Why they’re great: I love the flavor of pumpkin, and adding the pumpkin seeds gave them great texture.  These were unconventional but really good!

Why you can skip them: Posting this recipe during the springtime is extremely out of season, and I understand if you’re not trying to incorporate this very typical fall flavor into your meal prep.  Asides from that, these were delicious.

Ingredients: 

1. 1 cup oats
2. 1/2 cup pumpkin (plain pumpkin puree, with nothing added)
3. 1 egg
4. 1 oz pepitas
5. 1 tsp vanilla
6. 1 tbsp maple syrup
7. 1/4 tsp baking soda
8. Cinnamon to taste
9. Pumpkin pie spice to taste

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Yield for the ingredients listed above is 2 giant cookies, or 4 regular sized ones.

Stats Per Cookie (I made two giant cookies out of the whole recipe) – Calories 300 P11/C45/F8.

PB&J

[These were really under-photographed and I’m not sure why…]

Why they’re great: I really only kept this section here for consistency with the other variations.  No one should be questioning why these are great.

Why you can skip them: These were incredibly messy to make.  The batter was pretty difficult to work with, and was really sticky.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup oats
2. 1 egg
3. 3/4 c greek yogurt (I used full fat but you can use whatever you like)
4. 2 tbsp PB2
5. 3 tbsp jelly
6. 1/4 tsp baking soda
7. 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
8. Cinnamon to taste

Bake for 14-15 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Yield for the ingredients listed above is 3 giant cookies, or 5-6 regular sized ones.

Stats Per Cookie (I made three giant cookies out of the whole recipe – Calories 300 P16/C40/F8.

Chocolate

Why they’re great: Chocolate.

Why you can skip them: These were also incredibly messy.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup oats
2. 1 scoop protein of choice (I used vanilla)
3. 1 egg
4. 1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
5. 1 c greek yogurt (I used full fat)
6. Chocolate (chips or a bar broken up)

Bake for 10-11 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Yield for the ingredients listed above is 3 giant cookies, or 5-6 regular sized ones.

Stats (I made three giant cookies out of the whole recipe) – Calories 304 P22/C27/F12.

To those of you who read through to the end – Thank you, and I love you and appreciate your support.  Tag me when you try my recipes 🙂 @liftinluxe #liftinluxe !

Stay fit and fab, all!