Weekly wisdom: Valentine’s Day no-bake Peanut butter coconut cookies [refined sugar free]

No bake chocolatey- peanut butter goodness in the form of a cookie but assembled in minutes. Made with peanut butter + unsweetened cocoa + oats + butter + unsweetened coconut + honey + coconut sugar + unsweetened almond milk + vanilla + salt.

These classic no bake cookies have just become easier and healthier than when you made them in middle school. They are made with 1/2 the amount of butter [or you can sub coconut oil], and a decreased amount of sugar [in the form of honey and coconut sugar]. I think you’ll like them.

We are in LOVE with peanut butter over here and also in love with cookies. So since we figured out a way to marry the two…and in a health[ier] way? We have made these on repeat for the last 2 weeks.

In many recipes that I have used before, the directions say to boil the butter, sugar and milk together. I missed this part of the recipe and it still worked so I have since been SKIPPING that step and it works just fine! And its one less step which means our cookies can be eaten that much quicker.

Also, I wanted to find a way to decrease the amount of butter and sugar yet still have them be tasty. Because, after all, they are still cookies.

As i was comparing recipes to find the one that tickled my fancy. I found that most of them called for equal amounts of butter and peanut butter…and then a LOT of sugar.

That just somehow seemed a little overkill to me. So I did some experimenting over the last few weeks of batches.

the RIGHT INGREDIENTS:

• Oatmeal
  • regular (preferrable NOT quick oats)
• Coconut sugar
• Honey
• Butter [can also use coconut oil if you are vegan, but I like the flavor of butter in this recipe]
• Salt
• Peanut butter HOMEMADE, preferably
• Unsweetened coconut
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • experiment between 3 tablespoons and 4….start with 3 and increase as you see fit!

the STEPS

Step #1: Mix all wet ingredients + coconut sugar + unsweetened cocoa powder until fully combined

Step #2: Add oats and stir until all the oats are covered.

Step #3: Shape into hearts.

• Because these are ‘no bake’ and made out of oatmeal, they are rather fragile. They don’t roll out. The easiest way to cut out these no bake cookies if you want a shape is to put the shape down on the parchment paper and then scoop the chocolatey oats INTO the shape. Press the oats around the shape. Then lift the shape off and leave your no bake cookie on the parchment paper.

• Many recipes say you should boil these ingredients but I found it works fine if you don’t!

the FAILURES:

QUICK COOKING OATS:

• Quick cooking oats are so small, using them made the cookies a little too mushy….or soggy or just the wrong texture. Either way, I didn’t like the outcome. They turned out much better using the regular oats.

TOO MUCH COCOA

• I made a batch adding 4 Tablespoons and with the decreased sugar, it was too bitter. So I would prefer to have less sugar which is why I decreased the cocoa to 3 Tablespoons.

SUGAR vs COCONUT SUGAR vs HONEY

• Because I wanted to make these slightly health[ier] than the regular recipe, I chose to swap out the white sugar for a sweetener that is lower on the Glycemic Index because it wouldn’t change the actual outcome of the product… as compared to baking a cake or some cookies in which white sugar is necessary for the end product to turn out.

Honey: is sugar-rich nectar collected by bees from a wide variety of flowers. Fructose is the main sugar found in honey, followed by glucose and sucrose. The sweet taste of honey is attributed to its higher fructose content, and fructose is known to be sweeter than glucose or sucrose. Honey is about 17% water. Here.

• Because honey is sweeter than white sugar, you don’t need to use as much honey which is why the cookies taste delicious and PLENTY sweet with 1 1/2 cups of sweetener as compared to the normal 2 cups of white sugar most recipes call for.
  • I chose to use part coconut sugar and part honey as I didn’t want there to be too much liquid if I replaced it all with honey.

• I also tried to make these with only coconut sugar and the dough wasn’t wet enough. It may have been because I didn’t boil the sugar and butter? I don’t know. But I tried a few batches with only coconut sugar and it just wasn’t the right texture.

• The winning combination = 1/2 cup coconut sugar + 1 cup honey.

• All other ingredients are regular and expected….the OATS….the SALT….the VANILLA….and the PEANUT BUTTER. [however, I do recommend that you use HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER. Not only does it cut out unneccesary sugar and salt that is often hidden in store bought peanut butter, HOMEMADE peanut butter is just so much better! And don’t worry. Jude made a video about that. ha! HERE.

SWEETENED COCONUT

• My personal pledge is to ALWAYS use unsweetened coconut compared to sweetened coconut. After you use unsweetened just once, I promise you will be hooked and convinced too! It just tastes so much more authentic and real. Yes, authentic coconut being itself.

ROLLING OUT THE COOKIES

• Turns out these cookies don’t roll out. And if they do, you would need a really sharp cookie cutter to get through the uncooked oats.
• The best way to cut them out is to scoop them INTO the cookie cutter when it is on the pan…then press the batter into the shape. Once pressed in, carefull slip off the cookie cutter off and you have a heart shaped, no bake cookie!

These are great and healthy[ish] BUT if you are craving real cookies with all the sugar and all the valentine fun. I’ve got the best cut out valentine sugar cookies you can imagine!

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