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I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. A healthier version of the traditional chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies? Bring it on.
I tweaked it slightly, since I thought it needed a bit more mix-ins. I think you could add even more coconut, quinoa, or oats if you wanted an even heartier cookie. My cookies were a still rather flat!
You could also replace the coconut oil with butter and I think that the cookies might harden up a little more. Mine were still pretty soft. But they are perfect straight from the freezer!
Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
Bring honey, coconut oil, and cocoa to a boil. Turn down heat and summer for three minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, vanilla, coconut, quinoa, and oatmeal. Dollop cookie-sized portions onto a cookie sheet that is covered with waxed paper.
Refrigerate or freeze until set. Store in a ziptop bag or airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Makes 15-18 cookies. Recipe adapted from Finding My Niche.
See two variations on this recipe here— including a GAPS-friendly one!
I want to make these for a party at the library and was wondering if they are safe or could the honey be substituted so that 10 month olds could eat them?
HI! Could you please tell me if these will still turn out if I skip the peanut butter? I have someone who is allergice to many things including p.butter, but, could eat these w/out it. Thanks so much for providing recipes such as this!
I’d recommend using sunbutter or almond butter in place of the peanut butter.
Just made these cookies. The only thing I tweaked was adding more oats & quinoa while keeping the same amount of everything else, and I didn’t boil the honey mixture–just heated it up. I don’t even like coconut and I thought these cookies were DELICIOUS! In my opinion the coconut flavor was very mild. I’m going to see about using natural (no sugar) peanut butter, and then maybe cutting back the honey just a bit to further lower the sugar content, while still having it taste yummy. Great recipe!
Yum! I added some pecans, left out the shredded coconut and quinoa, and used more oatmeal and almond butter since we have peanut allergies. Very versatile recipe, very yummy, and a blessing since we have allergies to wheat, egg, and milk. Thanks!
I made these as a treat for my son who can’t have flour or refined sugar. They were sooo good that even his brother who does not have a restricted diet said they were the best cookies he had ever had. They are actually so good I could have eaten them all myself! I put them in the freezer and the firmness was perfect.
The no bake cookies are my favorite cookies! I want to try this but had a question, can you taste the coconut from the coconut oil? I’ve tried using coconut oil before & could taste it…my hubby didn’t mind because he likes coconut but I on the other hand do not.
I just made these, thanks so much for the recipe! I didn’t use quinoa or coconut, and I used about 2 1/2 cups of oats. They looked just like the regular ones!
I look toward to making the nobake cookies! I love anything using quinoa!
I loved it. I made a few tweaks because I wanted to use up my quinoa and made for a nice firm, chocolatie (is that a word?) cookie for my evening fix. Thanks! I did link you back for credit. I may be new at blogging, but know when to give due credit.
Made with butter instead of coconut oil… and doubled everything…. fantastic!
Oh yay! So glad to hear they worked well with butter!
Yes, the firmed up just on the counter… a little softer, “chewier” than the regular no-bake recipe but definitely a winner! Thanks! 🙂
ugh… THEY firmed up… 🙂
I don’t like the taste of coconut. I wonder what I could substitute for that? Would the coconut oil in itself give the cookie a strong coconut flavor?
Michelle,
You might want to give it a try. I recently had a b-day party brunch for my son, who has multiple food allergies. I use coconut oil and coconut milk in everything. I even make whipped cream with canned coconut milk. Most people had no idea I had made the substitutions, and my cousin told me she hates coconut and didn’t even realize the whipped cream was coconut milk. With the other ingredients in these cookies, I’m not sure that you’d notice.
Michelle, I don’t think you can taste the coconut in these at all
To make sure they are truly gluten free, make sure the oatmeal is uncontaminated. Important for those with Celiac.
I’m excited to try these! But, I’m wondering what the point is to boiling the honey and coconut oil? I’d gently melt the coconut oil and stir the honey in at room temperature, especially if you’re using raw honey. Both raw honey and coconut oil have benefical properties that are destroyed at high heat like boiling. I make my own chocolate using just coconut oil, raw honey, and cocoa powder, mixing the three at very low heat. Kept in the fridge they stay at just the right firmness. Maybe I’m speaking before I should, but I’ll first try making these without boiling. I might be proven wrong, but I’d like to try to keep the integrity of these ingredients intact!
I think you could totally do that! Thanks for the suggestion!
Usually the point of boiling sugar recipes is to evaporate off some of the water so that a certain consistency is obtained. They will probably be very liquid-y if you don’t boil them, though since coconut oil has a high melting temperature, you could stick them in the fridge to firm them up (taking off my food science hat now :))
My hubby’s favorite cookies – thanks for sharing!
These look really yummy! Though they are not actually sugar free because honey is a type of sugar.
Yes, it’s all in your definition of sugar, right? 🙂 I should say that they are “refined sugar free”. 🙂
I don’t have quinoa. Do you think I could just add more oatmeal?
I think that should work. Let us know how it turns out!
Thanks!
Did it work? i was wondering the same thing
i kinda made this once by accident, started making the cookies and realized I only had about half the oatmeal i needed so i threw in a handful of quinoa and some coconut i had. didn’t even cook the quinoa and it was still good, nice crunch to it
I just pinned this. It looks great! I like the idea of using quinoa. Thank you, Crystal!
Was the Quinoa cooked first? Or just rinsed? I need to try these! Thanks! Jan
I cooked it.
Thanks, I am going to try this!
That does sound healthy with quinoa and coconut oil which I bought recently. Thanks for sharing. I just posted a no bake hazelnut bar recipe which you might want to try using nutella or hazelnut spread.
http://momonamission.me/?p=6435
Yum! Yesterday I made your choc.p-nut butter bars and they were such a hit I made another batch for extras in the fridge for a quick go to snack! I had the quinoa cookies down to try next and now you have this one…Lol My fridge is so full. We love ALL the recipes you have Crystal. 🙂 Thank you as always!!
Glad you’re enjoying the recipes! I’ll do my best to keep you supplied with dessert recipes to try for quite some time. 🙂
I absolutely love the idea of making a healthy no-bake cookie! These are ideal for a before or after workout energy boost! Thank you for adapting this and sharing it with us!