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- Makes 10 cookies
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Perfect for keeping your energy levels high during a long hike or satisfying your sweet tooth after dinner, these oversized cookies are delightfully chewy and incredibly versatile. The wholesome combination of peanut butter, oats, raisins, and cinnamon tastes like a decadent treat but these crave-worthy cookies are totally free from refined sugar and oil. Don’t be afraid to get creative and add in other ingredients like chopped nuts, freeze-dried blueberries, or vegan dark chocolate chips to totally customize the recipe. Pro tip: Keep a batch in the freezer so you always have a tasty treat on hand!
For more healthy cookie recipes, check out these tasty ideas:
Ingredients
- ½ cup mashed banana (1 large)
- ½ cup grated apple
- ¼ cup chunky no-salt-added peanut butter
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened, unflavored plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the first six ingredients (through vanilla). In a small bowl stir together the next five ingredients (through salt). Add oat mixture to apple mixture; stir until combined. Stir in raisins.
- Drop dough by ¼-cup portions 3 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Dip a spatula in water and use it to flatten and spread the mounds to 2¾-inch rounds (about ½ inch thick).
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are browned. Cool on a wire rack. To Store: Layer cookies between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze up to 3 months.
Comments (90)
(5 from 44 votes)Delicious. Even my very picky kids ate them.
These turned out wonderfully. I love the addition of the grated apple especially, combined with banana and maple syrup as the sweetness. Not as “flour’y” as many other cookies but my kids and I liked the texture all the same. Absolutely making again!
I’m going to make a double batch this morning subbing oat flour for a gluten free friend & put some in our freezer for company. Love all of the suggestions & sub options. We like dried fruit like raisins, cherries, etc. but for the grandkids I usually sub dairy free mini chocolate chips. Love using apples in fall baking. Thanks, FOK
These are the best vegan cookies I have ever made. I made the recipe as listed the first time with a full cup of raisins but it seemed too sweet to me. The second time I used 1/2 cup of raisins, 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and a little less than 1/4 cup of maple syrup. I also cooked them for 15 minutes so they would be a little more crispy and they were amazing! Even my non-vegan friends/family members couldn't believe these cookies were vegan.
Delicious recipe! Like others I used Oat flour and a little Agave Nectar instead of maple syrup. Added vegan chocolate chips and skipped the raisins. Will definitely make again.
These cookies are a 10/10! I made two substitutions (creamy ground peanuts, not crunchy, and quinoa flour rather than wheat). Amazing with a cup of tea.
Wow ~ my first time trying to do a vegan desert item. I was impressed! Usually can't eat bananas, but someone told me that cooking them breaks down the proteins. So far, so good! Just had my first one. If you don't like using a skillion dishes, the apple works out to be one med. sized apple. I subbed oat flour because that's what I have. I'll likely do this again!
Is there a way to convert to a bar cookie? 13 x 9 pan, bake for how long?
These cookies are amazing! I am allergic to peanut butter so I added 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and an extra Tablespoon of soy milk. Also used my air fryer. These will be at the top of our dessert list. Thank you!
What could you substitute for the ripe banana if allergic to bananas?
I'm thinking of trying it with applesauce. Not sure if it will work, but I'm going to try anyway.
Try pumpkin purée. I haven’t used in this recipe, but others with good success.
What is the calorie count for one cookie ??
These are very tasty. I’ve ground fresh oat flour instead of the wheat. I also have replaced the maple syrup with a pear cinnamon balsamic vinegar. I have also used pumpkin pie spice. Very tasty.
Easy to make, moist and sweet. Very yummy. I subbed chunky almond butter for pb, worked great.
Forgot to mention: I ran out of cinnamon so I used half pumpkin spice. Delicious.
Great cookies, missed out the maple, like someone said, and added 2tbsp almond milk.. I also used the GF flour, from the FoK recipe...turned out fab...thank you.
One of my favorite recipes of all time—I make these cookies so often! Perfectly soft, with a wonderfully indulgent peanut butter taste. I use oat flour in place of the whole wheat flour, and a mix of nuts in place of raisins. I bake them for 16 mins (might be a personal oven issue), and they turn out amazing every time! Thank you FOK!
I just made them and they are amazing !! Thank you!!!!
Love this, forgot to flatten first time - they looked like rock buns!!
Melt in mouth. Didn't add maple syrup, instead extra 2 tablespoons plant milk as earlier suggested.
Very tasty! I used dried mixed berries because that's what I had.
Making my second batch today!! So good!
These look delicious! I wonder if i could substitute a gluten-free flour such as millet or gluten-free oats? I would even consider potato starch, arrowroot flour, or chick pea flour if you think any of those would help. Thanks!
Yes, I used the mixed GF flour that is on this site...brown rice flour, oat,potato starch, and chai seeds ground...worked well.
These are my family's favorite. They can be adjusted for various nut butters and/or spices so easily. I've made them many times and we don't get tired of them.
Sweet, chewy, moist and satisfying! Will definitely make these again!
do you have nutrition information for all or most of these recipes? thanks
do you have nutrition information for these? thanks!
Hi Suzi, We hear your feedback for nutritional info, and this is something that we're discussing for the future. Please stay tuned for updates! Thank you, Courtney Editor, Forks Over Knives
These were very good! Instead of whole wheat, I used white whole wheat and they came out fine. They are almost what I would have as a breakfast cookie. I hardly tasted the peanut butter. They were sweet enough--I didn't find them bland, but everyone's taste is different. Great cookie! I'll double the batch and freeze them next time as a single batch won't last a week for me!
Great taste and texture and taste. Good for having company over.
What can be a good substitute instead of wheat flour
oat flour would probably work well!
Carol, if these delicious looking cookies do not work for you because you are following the Esselstyn diet of whole food plant-based eating without nuts, avocados and other plant fats, you might want to make Ann and Jane's Oatmeal-Maple Cookies in Dr. Esselstyn's original "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" book (page 286 in my paperback copy).
Wow! These cookies are wonderful! I made some changes only because it's what I had on hand. I used almond butter instead of peanut butter, I used date syrup instead of maple syrup and currants instead of raisins. And the the results were marvelous! Can wait to make them again with with some walnuts and perhaps some dried cherries and maybe some chocolate chips. It's funny the cookies tasted like there was chocolate in them, maybe it was the date syrup. I got 10 big cookies in total.
Looking forward to enjoying oatmeal cookies. I am on the Esselstyn heart disease reversal diet (no nuts, seeds, avocados or oils) and need to reduce the fat in this recipe. Wondering what I can substitute for the peanut butter?
I think some applesauce..maybe?
Amazing! Delicious! The only replacement I made was swapping the raisins with Lily’s sugar free dark chocolate chips. I will definitely make these again and again.
I use tahini instead of peanut butter sometimes. It is a great recipe.
Best of its' kind! Freezes well too...
Delicious recipe, one of my favorites from FOK! The apple, peanut butter oats and maple syrup are a great combo.
I replaced the maple syrup with another 2 tablespoons of plant milk. I also substitute 1 cup of raisins with 1/3 cup raisins and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. They turned amazing!
May I recommend golden raisins? They're so much tastier than those black things in the little boxes from elementary school.
Excellent cookies! I was happily surprised how good these cookies tasted. The combination of apples bananas and oats and cinnamon is delicious.
Our family from young to old loved these delicious cookies, even my husband who usually thinks raisins are "fake" chocolate chips! Moist and chewy they provide that mouth feel we love. I swapped out the whole wheat flour for a gluten free blend and it worked great. This recipe is a keeper.
Which gluten free blend did you prefer for this swap and did you just use a 1:1 swap? Thanks!
The cookies mixed up very easily and baked well. I was, however, disappointed with the recipe because it included several of my favorite ingredients but the cookies were quite bland. It seemed as though there was a good amount of cinnamon, but we couldn't taste it. Actually, they didn't taste like much of anything. I may try them again but add even more cinnamon.
A good recipe. I used cut steel oat because I missed that detail. Turned out fine. It's true that the peanut butter taste surface a bit more than the light apple one. The (big) amount of raisins helps counterpart that. I'll put more cinnamon next time.
I ALWAYS double the cinnamon in every recipe! ☺️
I went with almond butter because I have a peanut allergy. and I used homemade applesauce instead of bananas because I am on a low potassium diet. These cookies turned out perfectly! The sweetness level is such that it pairs well with tea, coffee, or blended fruit beverages. Thanks for the recipe!
How about applesauce and creamy peanut butter? What alterations do I make to thr amount of liquid?
I see that you made changes to fit your needs, but why not five stars. What else did you not like?
I'm sorry if I missed this, but what is the caloric information??
Forks Over Knives is focused on eating healthy foods, not counting calories. You can find calorie calculators online.
Nice treat. I used applesauce instead of bananas and because that had more liquid, I reduced the maple syrup to 1 TBL. The amount of peanut butter seemed to overpower the apple flavor. I used choc chips instead of raisins. I’m looking forward to making these again.
Peanut allergies in our home. What can I substitute for the peanut butter?
I would think you could sub Almond Butter.
I Just made the cookies thee are vers tasty. Instead of peanutbutter i used tahini.
Are the oats quick cook , regular ,or steel cut? Peanut butter—assuming natural?
It says "rolled oats" not steel cut. I'd use just regular rolled oats, not quick.
Is there a substitute for peanut butter? I would like it to be a nut- free recipe if possible.
Tahini or sun butter would be great subs, IMO
This is our go-to cookie base. We change it up with small tweaks, like replacing the raisins with dried cherries and dark chocolate (a family fave).
These cookies tasted amazing! I have gluten and peanut allergies, so I substituted an all purpose gf flour and used almond butter instead. I also added chocolate chips, nuts, dried cherries and cranberries to the raisins. This has become an instant new favorite!
Amazing!! Love it love it from the bottom of my heart ❤️ Thank you Can’t stop eating these cookies
What is the texture of these cookies? Because of added banana, are they soft and cake-like or more of a chewy consistency?
Love these! I used crunchy raw almond butter instead of peanut butter. These will be my go to cookies. Do you think leaving out the maple syrup and adding applesauce will change them too much?
Have yet to prepare this recipe. Typically use the traditional one. Looking forward to baking these.
Can you use nuts instead of yucky raisins?
Yucky??
Attention seeker? You can modify any recipe to your own preference without calling any ingredient “yucky.”
Don’t be childish.
Don’t yuck my yum please
The raisins add moisture and chewiness to the cookie along with sweetness. If you subbed nuts, then you’d lose the sweet in the cookie. I’d sub a different dried fruit instead, like dried cherries (personal favorite), apricots, figs, etc. You could definitely add any chopped nuts to add a texture and flavor, but it might compete with the peanut butter flavor. If there’s a nut you prefer, maybe turn that into a nut butter and swap it for peanut butter in the recipe, or use a different nut butter altogether. Just some ideas to help.
Try chopped dates.
Raisins are "yucky?" What? Are you five? that seems rather insulting. If you don' like raisins, use something else.
This was really quick and easy to make. I added some hemp seeds and chia seeds. Doubled the recipe and made a bit smaller. Grandkids loved them.
Great!
If you add Chia seeds to cookies, do you soak them first?
Sarah: for those of us on this blog, we are not here to bash other ppl; it is for sharing recipes. If yucky has a negative connotation to U, just scroll on by. Pls use your best manners when u reply.
Tasty!
Perfect post run snack.
Has anyone tried it without nut butter? If I omit will I need to be replace it with any other ingredient?
Im gf so what would be the best substitute for this recipe, ty
You can use GF oats and for the ½ cup whole wheat flour change with 1/2 cup GF oat flour
GF oats and I sub the whole wheat for almond flour
Nic, Thanks! Almond butter with almond flour might be fantastic using chopped almonds. I can see this one recipe working for any dried fruit, nut, nut butter, seeds plus any kind of flour. Wow!
Delicious chewy cookies. They will be on my permanent rotation. Thankyou.
Could you use almond or coconut flour. Thank you