No-Bake Chewy Peanut Butter Oat Cookies | Vegan, Gluten-Free
These simple treats require just five ingredients (plus sea salt). Best yet, they come together in a speedy 20 minutes. Rolled oats are coated in a rich, peanut buttery, caramel-like sauce. The mixture is scooped out, dropped onto a baking pan, and chilled to chewy cookie perfection. These cookies are sweet, chewy, peanut buttery, and almost fudgy. They're texture is optimal at room temperature, so be sure to give them plenty of time to warm up before enjoying if you opt to store them in the refrigerator!
Servings: 22 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice syrup*
- ¼ cup virgin coconut oil**
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
Instructions
- Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large pot or sauté pan, whisk together the brown rice syrup and coconut oil over high heat. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute (set a timer), whisking constantly to prevent scorching. The mixture will continue to boil a bit even once the heat is dropped, and that's okay.
- After one minute, remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter, vanilla, and sea salt until smooth and glossy.
- Add the rolled oats and stir until evenly coated.
- Let the mixture cool for just a minute or two. Then, use a lightly greased spoon or cookie scoop to drop heaping spoonfuls (about 1 ½ tablespoons) of the mixture onto the parchment lined pan. Repeat, using all of the mixture. You should have about 22 cookies. If needed, lightly grease your fingers and compact any loose edges into the mounds.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until the cookies are well set and lose their tackiness.
- Store, tightly covered, at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator*** for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
*Brown Rice Syrup is a must as the primary sweetener in this recipe. Other liquid sweeteners (e.g., pure maple syrup, agave) will not work in its place.
**No Oil? No Problem. To make these treats oil-free, substitute ¼ cup pure maple syrup for the coconut oil. Just keep in mind that the cookies will be sweeter and a bit firmer. I much prefer them with coconut oil (read: they're not as good this way), but in an oil-free pinch, this swap will do.
***If you opt to refrigerate the cookies, be sure to pull them out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before enjoying to allow them plenty of time to soften.