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  • Prep-time: / Ready In:
  • Makes 10 cookies

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. 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 (66)

(4.87 from 30 votes)
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Cheryn Duffield3 weeks ago
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Making my second batch today!! So good!

Jodi Kaplan2 months ago
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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!

Kirsten3 months ago
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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.

Carole4 months ago
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Sweet, chewy, moist and satisfying! Will definitely make these again!

suzi4 months ago
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do you have nutrition information for all or most of these recipes? thanks

suzi4 months ago
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do you have nutrition information for these? thanks!

Forks Over Knives4 months ago
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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

Doreen5 months ago
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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!

Eden5 months ago
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Great taste and texture and taste. Good for having company over.

Pam Foley5 months ago
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What can be a good substitute instead of wheat flour

H4 months ago
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oat flour would probably work well!

Jane5 months ago
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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).

Ann Marie Gambino5 months ago
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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.

Carol6 months ago
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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?

Susan5 months ago
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Well Your World on YouTube has a simple oatmeal cookie that should work for you. They are called Oat Clusters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9mW2dXllbc

John5 months ago
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I think some applesauce..maybe?

Rebekah Welch6 months ago
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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.

Yasemin6 months ago
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I use tahini instead of peanut butter sometimes. It is a great recipe.

Leslie6 months ago
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Best of its’ kind! Freezes well too…

Kathleen Kastner6 months ago
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Delicious recipe, one of my favorites from FOK! The apple, peanut butter oats and maple syrup are a great combo.

Gisele6 months ago
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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!

Katie6 months ago
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May I recommend golden raisins? They’re so much tastier than those black things in the little boxes from elementary school.

Kathleen7 months ago
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Excellent cookies! I was happily surprised how good these cookies tasted. The combination of apples bananas and oats and cinnamon is delicious.

Leanne Wilson8 months ago
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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.

Rebecca2 months ago
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Which gluten free blend did you prefer for this swap and did you just use a 1:1 swap? Thanks!

Meg8 months ago
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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.

Jozy8 months ago
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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.

Martha5 months ago
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I ALWAYS double the cinnamon in every recipe! ☺️

Will J.8 months ago
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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!

Lesia5 months ago
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I see that you made changes to fit your needs, but why not five stars. What else did you not like?

Rebecca8 months ago
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How about applesauce and creamy peanut butter? What alterations do I make to thr amount of liquid?

c.stokes8 months ago
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I’m sorry if I missed this, but what is the caloric information??

Christine8 months ago
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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.

Pat8 months ago
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Peanut allergies in our home. What can I substitute for the peanut butter?

Joyce8 months ago
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I would think you could sub Almond Butter.

Trievia8 months ago
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I Just made the cookies thee are vers tasty. Instead of peanutbutter i used tahini.

Deb8 months ago
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Are the oats quick cook , regular ,or steel cut?

Peanut butter—assuming natural?

Robin8 months ago
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It says “rolled oats” not steel cut. I’d use just regular rolled oats, not quick.

Nina8 months ago
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Is there a substitute for peanut butter? I would like it to be a nut- free recipe if possible.

Elisha8 months ago
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Tahini or sun butter would be great subs, IMO

Ana Lewis8 months ago
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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).

Jess6 months ago
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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!

OlushaGauss8 months ago
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Amazing!! Love it love it from the bottom of my heart ❤️ Thank you Can’t stop eating these cookies

Jody8 months ago
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What is the texture of these cookies? Because of added banana, are they soft and cake-like or more of a chewy consistency?

Natalie8 months ago
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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?

Carolyn8 months ago
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Have yet to prepare this recipe. Typically use the traditional one. Looking forward to baking these.

Kathy8 months ago
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Can you use nuts instead of yucky raisins?

KATHY2 months ago
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Try chopped dates.

Tracey8 months ago
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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.

Tasha8 months ago
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Don’t yuck my yum please

L8 months ago
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Don’t be childish.

Sarah8 months ago
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Attention seeker? You can modify any recipe to your own preference without calling any ingredient “yucky.”

Teresa8 months ago
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Yucky??

Marion8 months ago
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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.

Gabriela9 months ago
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Great!

Sharon8 months ago
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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.

Gail Bumsted8 months ago
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If you add Chia seeds to cookies, do you soak them first?

C. Turner9 months ago
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Tasty!

Marie9 months ago
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Perfect post run snack.

Tess8 months ago
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Has anyone tried it without nut butter?
If I omit will I need to be replace it with any other ingredient?

Deb9 months ago
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Im gf so what would be the best substitute for this recipe, ty

KATHY2 months ago
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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!

Nic8 months ago
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GF oats and I sub the whole wheat for almond flour

Shlomit8 months ago
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You can use GF oats and for the ½ cup whole wheat flour change with 1/2 cup GF oat flour

Rosalyn9 months ago
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Delicious chewy cookies. They will be on my permanent rotation. Thankyou.

Mary9 months ago
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Could you use almond or coconut flour. Thank you

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Nancy Macklin, RDN

Nancy Macklin has a bachelor of science in dietetics from Iowa State University and a Master of Science in health services administration from the University of Saint Francis. Macklin worked as a hospital-based clinical dietitian, providing counseling for diabetes, heart disease, and weight loss and as a food service director in health care dining sites. She now serves as a test kitchen dietitian, developing 500+ recipes per year. She is a member of the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics and International Association of Culinary Professionals. Find her on LinkedIn.

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