I Like Cookies | Chewy Almond Butter Oatmeal & Dark Chocolate Cookies

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

I’m a bit of a cookie snob. I mean, not all cookies are created equal. You know?

For me, a good cookie has three requirements. First of all, and most importantly, a good cookie has to be chewy. Not hard, not cake-y, not crispy, but chewy. Secondly, I like cookies that have some heft. Don’t get me wrong, a good buttery chocolate chip cookie can easily win my heart. But most often, I love a cookie that’s got substance – oatmeal, coconut, raisins, chocolate – you know, good mix-ins! And finally, I really prefer cookies that are thick as opposed to thin. Thickness matters.

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

We’re still talking about cookies. Don’t get distracted!

And if the cookies can maybe possibly be considered healthy…even better. Now, I’m going to use the term “healthy” quite loosely here. These cookies do have plenty of sugar. BUT! They are filled with many good-for-you ingredients like oats, flax, almond butter, coconut oil, and dark chocolate. If you use gluten-free oats, you can call these gluten-free. And if you use vegan chocolate (most good-quality dark chocolate is considered vegan), then they become vegan too. Which means we can share these cookies with all of our gluten-free and vegan friends! Bonus!

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

This is really good news for me because when I make a batch of cookies this good, I need to get them out of my house, like, immediately. Otherwise I will eat more than the daily recommended intake of cookies. Unless that number is somewhere in the double digits. In that case, I’m doing fine.

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

These cookies are so darn chewy and so freaking good. Seriously. But please don’t take my word for it. Mix up a batch for yourself and then invite me over to help you eat them. I’m real considerate like that.

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

Chewy Almond Butter Oatmeal & Dark Chocolate Cookies (adapted from Eat Live Run)

You have the option of making these cookies gluten-free, if desired. Just use gluten-free oats! If you want to make them vegan-friendly, just be sure to use vegan chocolate. Makes about 30 cookies. 

1/4 cup coconut oil, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. salt

3 1/2 cups regular oats (or gluten-free, if desired)

1 cup dark chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)

1 cup almond butter

2 TBSP. ground flax mixed with 6 TBSP. warm water (aka. a flax “egg”)

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare your cookie sheet(s) by lining them with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Cream together the coconut oil, almond butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well blended. Add the vanilla and ground flax + water mixture. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add to the wet ingredients along with the dark chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Roll the dough into small balls (golf ball size) and place three inches apart on the cookie sheets (12 per sheet). Do not flatten the dough balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes until puffy and just barely beginning to brown around the edges. Let cool for 5-10 minutes (or until set) on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container with wax paper between each layer. I imagine these would freeze well too, but they were eaten too quickly for me to need to do such a thing!

Almond Butter Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies | Once Upon a Recipe

Have a great weekend friends!

Comments

  1. I cannot wait to try these! I’ve recently started to really like dark chocolate and I absolutely adore almond butter. Thanks for sharing!!

  2. Wow! You have some high cookies standards my friend! But rightly so! I mean I like to think I have the same standards but I almost never pass up a cookie of any kind, sadly. I love these. I need a new cookie recipe that I can convince myself is healthy. Have a good weekend!!!

    • Thanks Stefanie! Happy weekend to you too!
      PS. Let’s be honest…my cookie standards may be high but I’m prepared to lower them under the right circumstances. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I can’t say the same about my high standards for men.

  3. These sound and look amazing! I will definitely have to try them.
    x

  4. You have completely sold me on these cookies – they look incredible! I love chewy cookies and now I can’t stop thinking about these 🙂

  5. These look fabulous! Almond butter is something I have always wanted to try, but feel as though the fact that almonds aren’t that yummy will hinder the experience (for me anyway…) Awesome cookies! ~nerdwithtaste.wordpress.com

    • I promise that the almond butter is not the predominant flavor here, but if you can’t get over it, I’m sure you could try the recipe with another nut butter – like peanut butter. If you do experiment, let me know how it turns out!

  6. OMG!

  7. Hi Amanda! I have what may seem a really stupid question, but what is the “secret” to making a cookie chewy? I’m always trying to make them chewy but they always come out crispy or crumbly…

    • Hi Sofia,

      There are many different ways to make cookies chewy, and everyone has their own methods. The ingredients that you use will play a big role (ie. having enough “fat” in the cookies, the type of sugar and flour that you use), but some of my tricks include chilling and then rolling the dough into balls (vs. spooning them out into uneven clumps), using a parchment paper or Silpat-lined baking sheet (they seem to spread less than when you grease the cookie sheet with non-stick spray), and slightly under-baking the cookies. Perhaps if your cookies are crispy/crumbly, they are spreading too thin and then getting over-baked. These cookies are pretty fool proof, as you’re really just mixing the ingredients together and rolling it into balls. Give it a shot and let me know if it works for you – good luck!

  8. Chewy cookies are where it’s at, aren’t they? Add some dark chocolate and oats, and you have me as a friend for life.

  9. Heft, chewy, and thick. YES I am all about it. I have a cookie recipe on Wed. that reminds me of these, just the heft and texture.

    Love that you used AB and coconut oil in these. I’ve wanted to try that recipe of Jenna’s as a base and see what I can come up with!

  10. These cookies look incredible!!! I love how thick and chewy they look… tempting!

  11. Woa, they look breathtakingly good !

  12. Whhaaaaatt? How did you know my favorite kind of cookie?? 🙂

  13. Oh, it is most definitely true that not all cookies are made equal! I’m very picky too. I only like soft or chewy cookies, and when they’re chewy, I definitely like “heft” too. And these look so incredibly good! I love that they have good-for-you ingredients (if they’re gonna be chewy, might as well make it healthy-ish chewy). I love all the ingredients, but I think they’d be awesome with some dried cherries added in them… anyway, I hope to make these soon! I’ll let you know how they go.

  14. This is my kind of cookie! Just give me a dozen of these, a huge mug of coffee and I am a happy camper 🙂

  15. These look and sound so delicious! I love the idea of using almond butter as opposed to the more traditional choice of peanut butter. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  16. Loving these cookies- and your blog!! Can’t wait to make all your great recipes!:)

  17. Holly molly! You read my mind. I was looking for a good almond butter cookie recipe and this one looks spot on. By the way, this is my first time to your blog and I have fallen in love. You have so many tasty looking recipes!

  18. Those look amazing! Just my type of cookie – so glad we have the same taste in cookies… Oats are pretty much my favourite cookie ingredient…

  19. These sound amazing! And I agree with you, cookies need to be chewy. Yum!!

  20. These are sooo good. I am on a dairy/wheat/cane sugar free cleanse to help my babies eczema so I made a few substitutions and they turned out great! I used coconut sugar and chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar and they turned out fabulous! I also used real egg since I’m not vegan. This will be my go to cookie recipe!

  21. These look fantastic. You are so right, thick, chewy cookies are the best! The imaginative hope that these are healthier (well, they DO have healthier ingredients) makes them ideal for a pre-exam week care package. Brain food 🙂 Thanks!

  22. So I realized that even though I’ve already blogged about these, I should comment saying that they were completely awesome and even-better-than-expected– just in case someone reads the comments seeing reviews and if they should make them or not. So, random reader, if you’re contemplating on whether to make these… do! They are chewy, chocolatey perfection.

  23. YUM I love oatmeal cookies and I love dark chocolate. I pinned these for later.
    Thanks for sharing with us at In and Out of the Kitchen
    Dawn co host
    http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

  24. I want to make these yummy cookies..but I do not use flax seed…may I use one egg in place of the “flax egg”? Thank you for your time.

    • Hi Shelly, I’ve never tried making this recipe with a real egg, but give it a shot and let me know how it turns out!

      • I tried the recipe with one egg…it was a disaster. The dough was very dry…I tried baking the cookies anyway and they, like the dough were very dry and crumbly. I tried adding another egg…and a bit more almond butter and that helped, but the cookies were still rather dryish and not chewy at all. So…I tried to experiment a little more by adding a bit more coconut oil…and even a wee bit of flour. I could never get them to come out chewy. The good news is that they taste good…but most of them will become crumbles to be eaten like granola….cheers..Shelly

        • Hi Shelly, I’m really sorry to hear that the recipe did not work for you. I guess you don’t know until you try, and clearly this recipe is not meant to be made with anything other than a flax egg. However, I’m happy to hear that they still taste good and can be repurposed as granola! Thanks for giving the recipe a shot!

  25. These cookies look ace! Thanks for the recipe. Oh, and I couldn’t agree more with the thickness of cookies, too thin and they’re just a disappointment. Thanks again.

  26. These look AMAZING!! Definately going to try the gluten free version!!!

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  1. […] attention-grabbing name, and maybe even more so. When I first read about them on Amanda’s blog, I thought they sounded good because, sure, I like chew and almond butter and oatmeal and chocolate […]

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