(Healthier) Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

It’s summertime, and in our house, that means “just say no” to turning on the oven! But that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy a decadent dessert! These “Healthier” Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies are absolutely delicious and would be perfect to bring to a 4th of July Party for everyone to enjoy!

Now, I know similar versions of these cookies have been around for a long time. Who has memories of eating them during their childhood?

I sure do! I very specifically remember savoring every bite of one of these cookies for dessert during my annual trips to overnight horse camp, circa 2003. I always think about horse camp (and these cookies) during the week of July 4th because that is where I spent the holiday for 3 consecutive years.

The family that hosted the camp ran a very tight ship, and dessert was usually served in the form of fruit (that’s one good way to get a kid to turn up their nose to fruit!) But around mid-week, we would be surprised with one of these cookies as a very special treat, and it gave me hope that I might, in fact, be able to make it to Friday.

In all truthfulness, I got so homesick every year that my mom usually had to come up and visit for an afternoon to save me from completely falling apart. I don’t know what it was, but I was never any good at being away from home as a kid…even up until the last year I went to camp at age 15 I had a hard time. Heck, I still barely ever actually want to leave the house…but I do, because #adulting.

But anyway, back to these cookies that gave me life then, and continue to do so to this very day! Like I said, the 4th of July holiday stirs up memories from camp, so when I started thinking about a good dessert we could enjoy on Wednesday, my mind instantly went to these delicious no-bake cookies.

I enjoyed searching through my recipes to find 13-year-old Maggie’s handwriting explaining how to make these (ridiculously easy) cookies. Even back then, when I found something I liked, I had to get the recipe! 

Even more so, I enjoyed seeing how simple it was to recreate the cookies using the ingredients I now keep in my own kitchen. The original ingredients aren’t awful on their own, but I made a few adjustments to use what I had on hand, and in turn, a “healthier” version of this yummy treat!

Sure, I could have gone one step further and tried using coconut oil instead of butter, almond butter instead of peanut butter, or even honey instead of sugar, but when it comes to a holiday treat that allows a tradition to live on, I say let it be what it is and indulge a little!

This 4th of July, while I’m holding my 90lb dog in my lap (fireworks) I’m going to enjoy one (or 3) of these delicious cookies and remember the “good ol’ days” when the hardest thing in life was making it through a week of horse camp, and revel in the fact that I get to eat chocolate for dessert every single night if I so choose! 🙂

Ingredients 

•  1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup butter (I use Kerrygold grass-fed)
• 2 scant cups coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups gluten free oats
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with wax paper (or parchment paper).
2. Heat butter, almond milk, and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely (about 4 minutes) 
3. Add peanut butter, and allow it to melt into the mixture (about 30 seconds).
4. Add oats and cocoa powder and mix well. 
5. Turn heat off and add vanilla. Allow mixture to sit for about 1 minute. 
6. Scoop 1 Tbsp of the mixture onto the wax paper at a time to make about 16 cookies. 
7. Allow to cool completely in the fridge before removing from the paper. Store in the fridge. I stacked mine in a tupperware with parchment paper between each layer to avoid sticking together 🙂 

Print

(Healthier) Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Prep Time

2 mins

Cook Time

6 mins

Total Time

8 mins

 

A slightly healthier version of the classic no-bake cookie of our childhood!

Course: Dessert

Servings: 16

Author: Maggie @ Our Fine Day

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup butter I use Kerrygold grass-fed
• 2 scant cups coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups gluten free oats
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with wax paper (or parchment paper).
2. Heat butter, almond milk, and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely (about 4 minutes)
3. Add peanut butter, and allow it to melt into the mixture (about 30 seconds).
4. Add oats and cocoa powder and mix well.
5. Turn heat off and add vanilla. Allow to sit for about 1 minute.
6. Scoop 1 Tbsp of the mixture onto the wax paper at a time to make about 16 cookies.
7. Allow to cool completely in the fridge before removing from the paper. Store in the fridge. I stacked mine in a tupperware with parchment paper between each layer to avoid sticking together 🙂

Also, this: 

Words to live by!