Healthy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies! We’re taking the traditional oatmeal cookie to the next level with decadent coconut – YUM!
Rich, tender, and chewy, these Healthy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies are melt-in-your mouth delicious. Full of flavor and texture; these guilt-free cookies will be a new family favorite. Keep a batch in your freezer to curb those sweet-tooth cravings.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
These cookies are divine!!! Oddly enough, they kind of reminded us of a Scotcheroo, when it comes to flavor, even though these cookies do not contain butterscotch.
We ate them up like wolverines! A healthy cookie never tasted so good! Yasmeen loved them, especially with the chocolate.
We gave some to our neighbors across the street (from Mom and Dad); Anne and her family gave them two-thumbs up! YAYYYYY!!!!!
You gotta give this one a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: These delicious cookies allow coconut and oatmeal to shine. They are somewhat reminiscent of a scotcheroo-flavored cookie. They flatten out and are more chewy than crispy.
- Unsweetened Coconut Flakes: We used coconut flakes which are large flakes of coconut. If you use desiccated or small grated coconut flakes, note that these flakes are smaller in size so you will need to use less than the amount called for in the recipe to avoid a dry brittle cookie.
- Food Processor Coconut Flakes/Rolled Oats: Pulse off and on until the coconut flakes and oats are finely chopped. Do not overprocess. You want to see some fine texture, but do not create a flour.
- Maple Sugar and Maple Syrup: This recipe uses both maple syrup (liquid) and maple sugar (dry). Feel free to substitute the maple sugar with coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice). If using other than maple sugar or coconut sugar, the amount of sweetener used may need to be adjusted based upon the sweetness desired as well as liquids may need to be adjusted accordingly if other than the discussed substitutions that are used.
- Cashew Butter Substitutions: We made these cookies using cashew butter due to its neutral flavor; however, feel free to substitute with almond butter. The flavor will slightly change accordingly.
- Batter: The batter of these cookies is sticky. It is not to be rolled or shaped into a ball. The batter is designed to be a high-rounded drop cookie (think gumdrop/dome). A cookie scoop is ideal for this type of cookie. If you do not have one, load a well-rounded tablespoon full of batter and use a 2nd tablespoon to scoop the batter off onto the baking sheet taking time to shore up the sides into a high-arching, dome-like rounded lump of batter.
- Water: The amount of water used is based upon the oats and coconut flakes brands used. Start on the low side 2 Tablespoons and then test the batter. The batter should be sticky and should still hold together nicely. If not sticky enough, add an additional tablespoon of water.
- Optional Drizzle of Chocolate: Place about ¼ cup of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, heat for 10 seconds on high and stir. Repeat until chocolate chips are melted. Place a plastic sandwich bag into a small juice glass with one of the edges pointed down. Scoop the melted chocolate into the sandwich bag. Press to the corner, twist the top of the bag, then snip off a tiny bit of the corner. Drizzle chocolate in diagonal directions. Allow to set at either room temperature for several hours or place on a tray and pop in the fridge for 20 minutes to set.
- Troubleshooting:
- Problem: Flimsy and too flat
- Fix: Cookie needs to be dropped into a high-rounded mound, think gumdrop/dome shape.
- Fix: Check expiration date on baking powder
- Fix: Expiration date on baking powder is OK, but forgot that baking powder only lasts 6 months after opening
- Problem: Falls apart
- Fix: Batter was not wet enough to hold batter together, add an additional tablespoon of water
- Problem: Dry and crumbly
- Fix: Used desiccated coconut and did not cut back on the amount as indicated in the Tips section
- Fix: Possibly used convection setting on the oven and forgot to switch to normal baking oven setting. Use normal baking oven setting
- Fix: Forgot to use oven center rack, adjust to center rack
- Problem: Cookies are not round
- Fix: Forgot to shore up the sides of the cookies after dropping the batter on the baking sheet. After dropping the batter, shore up the sides to create a round gumdrop/dome shaped batter
- Problem: Flimsy and too flat
Leftovers and Freezing:
Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
These cookies freeze well.
Pantry Products:
- Unsweetened Coconut Flakes: We used Bob’s Red Mill Unsweetened Coconut Flakes – Unsulfured. Feel free to use your favorite unsweetened coconut flakes.
- Rolled Oats: We used Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats Whole Grain – Gluten Free. Feel free to use your favorite roll oats. Do not use instant oats.
- Molasses: We used Grandma’s Unsulfured Original Molasses. Feel free to use your favorite molasses. We do not recommend black strap molasses. You can leave the molasses out of the dish if you wish. The molasses adds excellent depth of flavor and is reminiscent of brown sugar.
- Cashew Butter: We used Artisana Organic Raw Vegan Cashew Butter. Feel free to use your favorite raw cashew butter in this recipe. Read the label, make sure the only ingredient is raw cashews. Do not use a salted or sweetened cashew butter.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips: We used Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Food processor
- Large baking sheet
- Parchment paper (or silicone baking pads)
- #40 scoop (1.7 Tbspn) Tablespoon cookie scoop
If you try these tasty cookies, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
PrintHealthy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 14-15 Mintes
- Total Time: 25 Minutes (+Rest Time)
- Yield: 17-19 Cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Rich, tender, and chewy, these Healthy Coconut Oatmeal Cookies are melt-in-your mouth delicious.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cups rolled oats *
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes *
- 1 Tablespoon flax meal
- ½ cup dry maple sugar (or coconut sugar) *
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup cashew butter (or almond butter) *
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon molasses *
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup *
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons water *
Optional Ingredients:
- Drizzle vegan chocolate (melted)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, set oven to use middle rack.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone pads, set aside.
- Place the rolled oats and coconut flakes into a food processor and process (pulse on/off) for 40 to 50 seconds until finely chopped *, then add to a large bowl.
- Add all the remaining Dry Ingredients to the large bowl with the chopped oats and coconut flakes. Mix well to evenly distribute.
- Add all the Wet Ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix well to combine.
- Scoop up the dough with a large cookie scoop (shy of 2 Tablespoons) and drop in a high-rounded amount onto the cookie sheet. Continue scooping and dropping until all the batter is used. Keep the cookies approx. 3 to 4 inches apart as the cookies spread and flatten on the baking sheet as they bake.
- Place in the oven, center rack, and bake for 14 to 15 minutes until the edges and bottom are golden and the cookie is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Notes
*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: Makes approximately 17 to 19 cookies
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Literally cannot wait to make these! I am on my break at work and drooling. Will make these this weekend and update with the review.
Hi there Traci,
YAYYY!!! We hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy them as much as we do! Thanks so much.
-Ameera and Robin
Delicous
Hi there brielle,
WOOO HOOOO!!! So happy that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a fantastic review.
-Ameera and Robin
Delicious!!! Wonderful flavor! I used almond butter because I didn’t have cashew. Thank you for this yummy treat!
Hi there Jackie,
AWESOME!! We are so happy that you gave these cookies a try and enjoyed them. Thank you so much for the awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin
If you like coconut, you will love these cookies! Such a treat! The drizzle of chocolate was a great addition.
Hi there Sandra,
YAYYYYY!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for the awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin
These are good! We had trouble getting the batter to stick together, so we added an egg, which worked well and made the cookies puffy and the texture was amazing. We also substituted brown sugar for the coconut sugar and added a few chocolate chips on top of each cookie. We only got 10 cookies out of the recipe using my large cookie scoop, so just a heads up that it does not make as much as the recipe says.
Hi there Kirstin,
We are happy that you enjoyed this recipe. We’d like the opportunity to address your concerns. First, is that you substituted a wet sugar (brown sugar) for a dry sugar (coconut sugar) this resulted in texture (sticky batter) issues.The second issue is that you used a large cookie scoop which is double the size as the cookie scoop that we recommended hence you got less cookies. Thank you.
-Ameera and Robin
I’ve made these several times to take to gatherings. ALWAYS a big hit!
Hi there Ang,
YAYYYY!!! We are so happy that you enjoy taking these cookies to gatherings. Thank you for taking time to leave us a fantastic review.
-Ameera and Robin