Vegan Ginger Oat Cookies for morning sickness

Hi Pregnant Vegan,

As a midwife I often speak to mums who have pregnancy nausea. It is very common, up to 80% of people experience it at some stage in their pregnancies. 

I had it too.

I tried different things to make me feel better. 

I used aromatherapy and acupressure which helped on the spot. But I needed a sort of a background approach too. I had read that eating often could possibly help. So I tried different foods.

Once I found a way to maintain my blood sugars throughout the day, I got a handle on the nausea for sure.

You see, it’s a vicious circle because if you don’t eat, your blood sugars drop and you feel more nauseous. You need to try your best to break the cycle.

Oats are a slow release carbohydrate, meaning that your blood sugars don’t spike and drop suddenly leading to more nausea.

Instead, they release their energy slowly over a few hours, keeping your sugars stable so you can avoid the nausea and dizzy feeling that comes with a sudden drop in sugar. 

Have an oatcake on your bedside table and eat it before you get up.

Let me give you my amazing Ginger Oat Cookie recipe!

In my recipe I am replacing brown sugar with coconut sugar because it has a slightly lower glycemic index than conventional sugar, meaning it releases its sugar a bit slower. Also, in some places in the world, conventional refined sugars might have been processed using bone char and therefore are not vegan.

I have added molasses for flavour, but also to give you a sneaky source of iron. Molasses has a whopping 4.7 mg of iron per 100 g, that’s almost double the amount of beef and almost four times the amount of chicken! It is also a calcium powerhouse with 205 mg of calcium per 100g.

Hurray for plant based eating in pregnancy.

Ingredients:

100 g  coconut oil (hardens at room temperature, so you might need to soften it)

50g coconut sugar (if you can’t get this, use 1/4 cup brown sugar) 

1 flax egg (3 tbsp water, 1.5 tbsp of ground flax seed)

60 ml molasses

½ tsp vanilla extract

150g rolled oats

100g all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

30-45 ml non-dairy milk of your choice

50 g sugar with 3 tbsp chia seeds for rolling

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180℃ and line your baking tray with baking paper.
• Cream your vegan butter with the sugar. Add the molasses and vanilla extract. Add a flax egg to your mix.
• Mix all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
• Mix your dry ingredients into the wet. I like to do this by hand. You will get a crumbly dough.
• Add your plant milk. Start with 30 ml and add more if the dough is still crumbly. You want a thick cookie dough.
• Break off bits of dough and roll it in your hands (aim for 20 - 25 cookies)
• Roll the balls in the sugar and chia seeds and  place onto your lined tray. 
• Flatten with a fork.
• Bake your cookies for 10 (soft and chewie), 12 (snappie and crisp) or 15 (super crunchie) minutes.
• The cookies will be soft when they first come out. Allow them to cool and store in an airtight container. They keep in your airtight container for up to a week and in the freezer for up to 3 months.

These are so delicious! I make them regularly because they are so nutritious and make for a lovely afternoon snack.

Make them and let me know how you enjoyed them.

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