Lemon Baked Falafels

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. If you aren’t using oat flour, add the gluten free oats to a food processor and grind until it reaches a flour consistency. Roughly a few minutes. Add the baking powder and set aside in a small bowl.

3. Add parsley, cilantro, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and the spices to a food processor and mix to combine.

4. Add chickpeas to the mixture and process for a few minutes. You want to leave a little bit of texture to the dough, so do not smooth out the chickpeas. If your food processor is on the smaller side you may have to shake the sides or stop it every few seconds to incorporate the mixture.

5. In a large mixing bowl add the above mixture. Add the oat flour (+baking powder) and mix together with a wooden spoon. At this point, taste test and add more seasoning if needed.

6. Divide the mixture into desired sized patties. I made them into burgers, but have also formed them into bit sized balls to fit in pitas!

7. Over medium high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Depending on the size of the pan, add 1 or 2 of the falafels and cook on each side for 4 minutes. The edges will become crispy and start to brown.

8. Add the falafels to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes on EACH side. Total time of 40 minutes. Check while they are baking, the longer you leave the falafels in the oven the crispier they will become. Be careful to not dry them out.

9. I usually serve the falafels in a pita pocket, but had recently jumped on the craze of using collard wraps! They make for a lighter meal and give an extra crunch to the falafel! I also like to top mine with onions, salsa, or avocados.