These were a total whim. It thunder-stormed this afternoon. The winds were so strong they bent our picnic table umbrella pole right in half. Yikes.
Such blustery and un-summer-like conditions called for oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, I thought. Isn’t that what good moms do on rainy days? Too bad I didn’t have the patience of a saint to go with this sudden bout of Supermom today. Ahem.
Plus, I was craving chocolate, because, well, who doesn’t crave chocolate immediately upon having it enter their mind?
I based these off my friend Jenny’s recipe, which she adapted from the back of a bag of oats.
I wanted to skip the sugar and use natural sweeteners instead, so I tried honey and coconut palm sugar. I didn’t use all honey because it tends to not work well in cookies for keeping their shape. I’ve had my fair share of flat, crinkly puddles. Tasty, but not at all attractive.
The combo worked like a charm, though, and they were in fine cookie form – round, fluffy, and moist. Chewy, but not crumbly. Just enough chocolate chips to make each bite heavenly.
(By the way, if you use store-bought chocolate chips then, of course, they’ll have refined sugar. I make an exception for chocolate chips and chalk them up to my 20%.)
If you want to be hard-core, though (or especially if you’re dealing with allergies like soy or dairy), you can make your own chocolate chips with this recipe from my friend Adrienne at Whole New Mom.
I also wanted to try and improve the texture a bit to make them really hold together well. Gluten-free baked goods do tend to be crumbly. The wheat gluten is usually the “glue” that holds baked goods together, and so many GF recipes call for guar gum and/or xantham gum, both of which are highly processed additives, and certainly not real food.
Enter chia seeds. My latest ingredient love affair. I threw in a teaspoon and the angels sang the hallelujah chorus. Rainbows and unicorns appeared beneath fireworks in the sky. Marching bands came by exuberantly in the streets. What I’m trying to say is: history was made, people. Awesomeness was reincarnated again in cookie form.
Honey came home and snitched a few from the cooling rack as I was rocking Canaan to sleep. When I told him they have no refined sugar, his mouth literally dropped open. They are not just “really good… for healthy cookies”… they are just plain AMAZING.
If you try them, let me know how it goes! Enjoy!
20-Minute Oatmeal Peanut-Butter Chocolate-Chip Cookies (NO gluten or refined sugars!)
Ingredients
- ½ cup honey
- ¾ cups coconut palm sugar
- ¼ cup butter at room temperature
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon whole chia seeds
- 3¼ cups quick oats
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place honey, coconut palm sugar, and butter in a bowl, and beat until smooth.
- Add peanut butter, baking soda, eggs, and chia seeds. Mix well with electric mixer.
- Mix in oats.
- Stir in chocolate chips (or use the mixer if yours is powerful enough. I used my hand mixer and it was fine).
- Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let sit for one minute on the pan before removing to a cooling rack - they are less prone to breaking that way.
- Once cooled, freeze half of the cookies for a rainy day. Otherwise they'll all be gone by morning!
Nutrition
Frances
Yum! We’re going to try these with almond butter because of a peanut allergy but they look great!
Denise
Made these last week, but I had to use regular rolled oats since that was all I had. They still turned out really good, but I had to cook them longer and they ended up a bit crunchier than I would have liked. I could tell this is a special recipe, though, and can’t wait to make them again with the quick cooking oats! I was absolutely amazed they didn’t have refined sugar (save the chocolate chips). This will likely be my new go-to cookie recipe! Thank you!
Erica
Do I have to use quick oats or could regular rolled oats be used?
Beth
I imagine you could use rolled oats, but it may change the texture of the cookies. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
Michelle
But chocolate chips have refined sugar in them.
Lorra
Do u have nutritional information to share, carbs sugars protein etc?
Elizabeth
I’m going to have to try a sunbutter version of these for my son and a pb version for me. Looks yummy!
Kaye
Hi! My husband has a sweet tooth and craves a sweet after dinner but I want him to eat healthy. These cookies are perfect and he loves them! I made them yesterday. I had never heard of Pure Palm Coconut Palm sugar. I ordered it from Amazon and I anxiously awaited its arrival. I added Nestle dark chocolate chips just because I had them in the pantry. Next time I will add mini-chocolate-chips or maybe butterscotch. I also added another teaspoon of chia seeds and chopped walnuts. I am going to make again and try adding raisens or craisens or dried cherries! : ) Thank you for sharing!
susie
I just found your website and love all of your ideas. I am looking for some healthy snacks and so was happy to find your list. I was surprised to see peanuts and peanut butter (since they are grown in the ground they contain molds – almond butter a little better I think) and also cheese (is it organic from grass – fed only cows?). And coconut sugar? Have u ever used baby food or agave? I don’t bake much but can’t do coconut either. Thanks for the ideas!
Elizabeth
These cookies look awesome:) I also have a son named Canaan and my name’s ElizaBETH. Strange. What made you choose Canaan, if you don’t mind me asking.
Mandy P
I made these yummy cookies this weekend. Awesome. I am having one issue with them though. I substituted in sunflower seed butter (and a little bit of soynut butter) because my daughter is allergic to peanuts. I didn’t have palm sugar so I used brown sugar. My issue is that some of them have turned greenish-blue on the inside of the cookie. Cleary this is a chemical reaction of sorts but I wonder if you might know why this would happen. They still taste fine but my kids won’t eat the “green ones.”.
Thanks, Mandy P
Joy V.
When you use sunflower butter and baking soda, there is a chemical reaction. Not harmful, just an odd color.
jean Dinorscio
sunflower seeds have chlorophyl
Jewel
It’s some kinda reaction to the sunflower seeds.
Debbie
I can’t wait to try these. Thanks!
Merry Jo
Is there a substitute for the coconut palm sugar? Raw sugar? Sucanat? Maple syrup? More honey? Let me know, because these sound yummy! 🙂 Thanks!
Beth
You could use any granulated/dry sweetener like raw sugar or sucanat or rapadura (though – FYI – raw sugar is still quite processed so that’s why I don’t use it). If you use a liquid like honey they won’t hold together as well. My guess is that they may turn out flat and spread out. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
erin
Keep up the great work!!
erin
I love your blog! And I laughed my backside off the first time I read your bio. Everything after the first sentence describes me too! I love coffee (too much), had three kids in four years (honesty disclaimer: twins were involved), and I stay up way too late making things normal people buy at the store. (Want to have some fun? Tell someone you make you own ketchup. The response I got was, “You can make that?!?” Yes! As a matter of fact, Heinz has been doing it for 120 years. 😉
Beth
Haha! I guess we are kindred spirits 🙂 Wanna share your ketchup recipe? I’ve been wanting to try it and have just debated which recipe to try first!
erin
Sure! As soon as I find a recipe that the kids like as much as the store bought kind. Last summer when I was rolling in tomatoes, I decided to give it a try. After all, my kids love ketchup and the stuff from the store is so bad for you. Anyway, I started making a big batch and half way through made a stupid mistake; when it says to put the sauce you were just boiling in the blender and puree it, you should let it cool a little first. Because if you don’t, then it will explode out of the blender when you take the lid off and you will end up with it all over you. I ended up with a third degree burn on my hand. And after all that, I went home and finished my ketchup…….and the kids didn’t like it! They ate it, because I made a big batch. And I was injured in the making of that ketchup…I was NOT throwing it away!! But they didn’t love it, so I have to try a different recipe this year.
erin
By the way, the whole “you can make that?!?” Was the reaction I got every time I had to explain what I did to my hand.
KarenL
How critical are the chia seeds?
Beth
They are functioning as a binder in this recipe, so the cookies may be very crumbly without them. I haven’t tried it though. I’d highly recommend getting some if you can! They are pretty popular these days – I got mine at my local bulk store. Also check health food stores, or maybe even amazon.