I think I’ve always baked.

Cakes, cookies, pies, you name it. I was a curious kid though. Sure, I made the recipe for chocolate chip cookies on the back of the chocolate chip package—proudly. I had that thing down pat. But soon I wanted…more. I didn’t want to use a store-bought pie crust. I wanted to make my own. I didn’t want to just measure the flour and sugar, I wanted to know the reason behind why you cream butter and sugar and why you sometimes used whole eggs, and sometimes just the yolks, or the whites.

I would scour thrift stores for cookbooks, often vintage ones, and teach myself how to make the recipes inside.

I’d search the (fledgling) internet, printing out recipes and saving them inside a white three-ring binder.

And I wasn’t half-bad, really.

Then, life changed. My mom went gluten-free. Soon after, I was told I had to lose the gluten as well.

I remember being at such a loss. How would I ever bake anything ever again?

This was years and years ago before gluten-free items were mainstream. This was when being gluten-free was akin to being a zebra. It was unheard of. And, actually, most people had never heard of “gluten.” There was one brand of noodles at the store we could eat and one box of crackers, which tasted like cardboard.

The idea of an actual birthday cake had me dreaming. And drooling.

And, if anyone knows me, they know I will never walk away from a challenge. I was determined that my mom and I not miss out and I set about literally relearning how to cook and, yes, how to bake without gluten.

I produced some truly terrible things. I’ll be the first to admit it and I still, to this day, don’t know how we choked them down. But we did. And I kept trying, and I kept learning from each mistake.

And I got pretty good.

And then, life changed. Again.

I went vegan. And, in solidarity, my mom joined me.

For the third time in a relatively short life, I relearned how to cook and how to bake.

Again, I produced some truly terrible food. But this time the learning curve was shorter and I soon got my feet under me. And eventually, I was cooking and baking up a gluten-free, vegan storm. Enough that I wanted to do it for a living. I wanted to help other people like me with food allergies. And so I took plant-based cooking classes and my skills improved, and my childhood curiousity was finally, finally feeling seen.

I don’t even know how many years ago that was now, but it was plenty. And today? My kitchen in my 6th floor apartment has nearly a dozen types of flour and ingredients that I pull out and measure by weight on my trusty lime green food scale. Food is fun.

But I don’t always live in my apartment. Right now I’m living with family, using their kitchen. They don’t have a scale. And they don’t have a dozen gluten-free flours. They don’t have multiple vegan egg replacers to choose from, and they definitely don’t have access to all of these things in the remote location we’re in. I could order them, sure. But instead, I usually get creative. Or, I go simple.

There’s nothing wrong with simple food.

A few days ago I woke up with a craving for something simple. An oatmeal cookie.

A chewy, chunky, warm oatmeal cookie. Maybe…with peanut butter? I could taste it.

In a few moments I had uncovered a recipe for a simple and easy vegan, gluten-free oatmeal cookie that used the basic ingredients I had on hand. A smile slowly crept over my face as I imagined making and serving these cookies to my family. Who doesn’t like cookies?

And then I stopped smiling…because I remembered that (often) folks have a prejudice against the idea of a vegan food item, or a gluten-free food item…and them together? Lord, help me. It takes convincing.

I decided to make them anyway because I wanted them and I’m worth a batch of cookies. (You are too, friend.)

And so I did. And they were delicious.

And I’m pleased to say that while the batch is gone, I didn’t eat them all myself.

My family pounced.

I should have known better. I’ve been baking since I was a little girl and it’s hard to pass up a cookie. It just is. And these cookies? These are cookies for everyone, even if they don’t need to avoid gluten and they aren’t vegan. It’s just a really good cookie. So, I invite you to indulge and to make a batch (it’s super easy!) and to share them with your loved ones.

Find the recipe here:

{Author’s note: Can’t eat peanut butter? Swap out the peanut butter to another nut butter, or even tahini. The cookie will be a little different but still just as tasty. With tahini you might need a little more liquid. And it’s the same with the almond milk—any non-dairy milk can be swapped in. When I made these cookies I made them with peanut butter, white sugar, vanilla, gluten-free oats, baking soda, and almond milk…and I was decadent and added in about 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.}