Healthy No-Bake Cookies
Posted Aug 15, 2016, Updated Jul 14, 2024
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Healthy no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies! Made with 8 nutritious ingredients, these healthy no bake cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan & refined sugar free!
I remember the first time I ever tried no bake cookies…I was in heaven. I hunted down the maker of those cookies and begged for the recipe. They were easy to make, but I wasn’t a fan of the nutritional profile.
Since my first encounter with these little bits of chocolate/peanut butter heaven, it became my mission to create a healthier version! I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count, which means I’m very glad that these healthy no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and vegan-friendly!
These Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies are made with only 8 good-for-you ingredients, all of which you probably have on hand right now – yay!
Healthy No-Bake Cookies: Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are a few potential substitutions for this recipe!
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in this recipe.
- Coconut oil. Butter or ghee are great substitutes for coconut oil.
- Honey. Use maple syrup for a vegan version of this recipe.
- Shredded coconut. If you don’t care for coconut, simply replace it with an extra 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats.
How to Make Healthy No-Bake Cookies
These healthy no bake cookies are so easy to make! Start by melting together the coconut oil, peanut butter and honey!
Stir or whisk the wet ingredients together over medium-low heat until the mixture is smooth.
Add the dry ingredients – cocoa powder, quick-cooking oats and coconut.
Stir until the mixture is homogenous (uniform throughout).
Then, use a 1 TBS measuring spoon or cookie scoop to portion out the no bake cookies, and place them onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Let them harden at room temperature or in the refrigerator or freezer.
Serve
These healthy no bake cookies are best served cold because the coconut oil is soft at room temperature.
Store
Store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Healthy No Bake Cookies FAQs
If you over-cook these healthy no bake cookies, simply add a TBS of each: honey, peanut butter and coconut oil by melting them together and then mixing them into the dry cookie batter. This should help. If you burnt them, you will have to start over.
If your no bake cookies don’t harden it means you didn’t cook the mixture long enough.
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Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey (or maple syrup)
- ¼ cup coconut oil (or butter)
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- ¼ cup unsweetened coconut (shredded)
Instructions
- Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, set aside.
- Combine peanut butter, honey salt and coconut oil in a saucepan and heat, stirring continuously, until melted and well-combined.
- Stir in vanilla and cocoa powder.
- Add quick-cooking oats and mix well.
- Add coconut and stir until completely combined.
- Drop 1 TBS portions of mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all your cookie mixture.
- Let cool in the refrigerator or freezer until hardened.
- Serve cold or frozen!
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator!
Video
Notes
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in this recipe.
- Coconut oil. Butter or ghee are great substitutes for coconut oil.
- Honey. Use maple syrup for a vegan version of this recipe.
- Shredded coconut. If you don’t care for coconut, simply replace it with an extra 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Yummy…and so quick and easy to make!
Delicious! I made the recipe above but I only had old-fashioned oats. Knowing the different oats would change the texture, I added about half a cup of golden raisins. Half a pecan on the top of each cookie finished them off. (Because of the golden raisins I probably will use less honey next time.)
How long exactly until they harden? 2 hours? Overnight?
Simply delicious! My entire family loved this healthier version of an old recipe even more than the original! Move over, classics, there’s a new cookie in town. 😉
Hi there! I only have melted coconut oil on hand and was wondering if it would be the same measurement as solid coconut oil or if I should measure out slightly less?
Another idea I just got is adding caramels to the recipe. Even better!
These are so worth trying! I hate trying new recipes where people say it’s absolutely fantastic, and then you make it, and it ends up tasting like garbage! I did half honey and half maple syrup, and realized I didn’t have any coconut, but they still turned out really yummy. Next time I will add coconut, as that’s my favorite! Thank you for a really good, no sugar recipe!
If I leave out the cocoa powder, would I need to make any other changes to the recipe? Thanks!
Wow, these are so good! My daughter and I are sitting here trying not to eat the whole batch! They are so smooth and sweet but not overly sweet. I used the recommended amount of honey and I think i might even be able to 1/2 it next time and they will still be sweet enough for me. I had only regular (not quick) oats and did not have coconut but i still loved how they turned out. Thanks so much for this keeper recipe… especially since we live in a hot climate and never want to turn the oven on!
Although I don’t hate coconut(actually made a birthday cake in March with some) I just thought of a replacement for the coconut. Rice crispies! OMG! These are so versatile one could do a lot with the recipe. They taste like a cross between a cookie and a candy.
Oh my goodness these were such a delicious, easy recipe! I added sunflower seeds and chia seeds for a little extra texture and they were great!