Oatmeal, raisins, dark chocolate. There, that’s my post. It’s all you really need to know, and maybe all anybody really needs to know when it comes to cookies AND life.

Okay, that’s probably not true. Except the cookie part.

Anyway, today’s been one of those exceptionally grey Seattle days, a little bit drizzly, and absolutely no discernable patches of clear sky anywhere. I’ve been holed up working on school, and cookies suddenly seemed absolutely necessary. In times of such necessity, it’s best to just make the cookies.

These little delights are super easy, and through a combination of gluten-free all purpose flour, almond meal, and oatmeal, have the best texture; a little chewy on the inside, a little crispy on the outside, with lots of raisins and big dark chocolate chunks. I won’t lie, it’s taking most of my willpower not to eat about 10.

Let’s make cookies! What you need:

1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

1.5 cups gluten-free oatmeal

1/2 cup almond meal

4 Tbsp chia seeds (2 combined into 6 Tbsp of rice or almond milk to form a gel, and 2 folded into batter)

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup coconut sugar

3/4 of a broken dark chocolate bar

1/2 cup raisins

3 Tbsp maple syrup

9 Tbsp rice, almond, or other non-dairy milk (6 for chia gel, the rest added to wet ingredients)

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch each of salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While chocolate bar is still wrapped, smash it to pieces with the bottom of jar. Very satisfying and keeping it wrapped prevents chocolate from flying everywhere. You can also use chocolate chips, I just didn’t have any.

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. A note here about almond meal…you can buy pre-mealed almonds at Trader Joe’s or, if you have whole almonds, pulse them in a food processor or magic bullet until a crumbly flour is formed. Don’t go too far or you’ll make almond butter, which isn’t a bad thing, but not what you’re going for here. The conversion is 1:1 almonds:almond meal (or flour). Whisk together 2 Tbsp chia seeds and 6 Tbsp rice milk, let sit a few minutes until a gel is formed.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, oil, chia gel, maple syrup, and vanilla. Whisk together and add wet to dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate and raisins. Spoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, and bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Eat and be happy!