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The Hunt for a Healthy Snack: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Of all the desserts we make, cookies definitely go the fastest in our house. Not only are they a good after-dinner treat, but they’re a great snack throughout the day. The only downside is that when you love cookies so much, it’s easy to fill up on sugar all day. That’s why we love these peanut butter oatmeal cookies so much. They’re healthy, easy to make, gluten-free, vegan, and they taste amazing.

Peter actually won a work competition for healthy baking with these cookies. It’s no surprise, really, with how well these turned out. Between Isabelle’s homemade carob chips and Peter’s added peanut butter drizzle on top, these peanut butter oatmeal cookies turned out better than we could have hoped. They’re also super easy to make, which is an added bonus. They’re also fairly cost-effective: you can use old bananas, simple oats, cinnamon Chex, and a few other ingredients. No gluten-free flour required for this one.

The other major thing that we like about this recipe is that it doesn’t feel like it’s missing anything. Sometimes we find that making gluten-free or vegan desserts (including cookies), they tend to feel dry or like they’d benefit from some non-vegan or non-gluten free ingredients. But these peanut butter oatmeal cookies have a good consistency both before and after the baking process.

If you have different food sensitivities or allergies, or even different preferences, then feel free to sub out certain ingredients. These cookies are pretty foolproof so there’s some wiggle room with what you put in them.

How to Make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium banana
• 1/3 cup + 1/8 cup peanut butter (creamy)
• 1/3 cup honey or agave
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract (find a gluten free variety if you’re celiac/coeliac; we make our own from scratch)
•  1-1/2 cups gluten free quick oats
• 1 cup cinnamon Chex (rice based)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup carob chips

Substitutions: If you have a nut allergy, then sun butter could replace the peanut butter well. You could also sub the carob chips for chocolate chips if you don’t have a sensitivity to cacao.

DIRECTIONS

1. Mash the banana with a fork in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add 1/3 cup of the peanut butter, honey/agave, and vanilla and mix.
3. Add all remaining ingredients (aside from the carob chips) and mix until it starts coming together like a dough.
4. Add in the carob chips and fold in until evenly incorporated.
5. Cover and chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 2 hours before baking.
6. Remove the mixture from the fridge and preheat your oven to 350°F.
7. Scoop out large balls of the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (15-20 cookies).
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and cool.
10. Once cooled, microwave the remaining 1/8 cup peanut butter in 15 second increments until runny. Drizzle onto the cookies with a fork.