The universe must have anticipated my needs. These soft, chewy oatmeal cookies are going to be key players in this weekend’s marathon unpacking session at our new house. I highly recommend them for all of your sweet treat and pick-me-up snack moments too. If you’ve been looking for the consummate healthy oatmeal cookie recipe, look no further. These thick and goodie-packed low calorie oatmeal cookies are made from wholesome ingredients, yet they taste like a true treat!
Secrets to Baking the Best Healthy Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
It doesn’t get much more delightfully old school than an old fashioned oatmeal cookie. Thus, it feels especially appropriate that I used one of the oldest healthy baking tricks in the book when developing the recipe: applesauce.
Replacing half the usual amount of butter with applesauce still keeps the oatmeal cookies plenty moist, without the need for extra fat.
Next, I wanted to see if I could sweeten the healthy oatmeal cookies without sugar. Honey did the trick!
In addition to being a more wholesome alternative, honey’s homey, comforting flavor is a classic and lovely combination with the oatmeal.
Now, we need to talk about one of the more divisive oatmeal cookie topics: raisins. I know that a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe would have been the most traditional route, but I simply could not do it. Far better is a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie WITH CHOCOLATE. I love my oatmeal cookies fully loaded, which is why to go along with the raisins, you’ll find melty dark chocolate chips and chunky toasted nuts too. I adore the overall effect the range of mix-ins gives these healthy oatmeal cookies. We have the crunch and warmth of the nuts and the sweet chew of the raisins, and I don’t think I need to tell you that if you stack an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips next to an oatmeal cookie without, one of them is going to be the clear crowd favorite.
Recipe Adaptations
Do not swap all of the fat in this recipe for applesauce. The modest amount of butter is key to the healthy oatmeal cookies’ texture and keeps the cookies from being excessively cakey.If you’d like the healthy oatmeal cookies vegan, you can swap said butter for a vegan butter substitute (my recommendation for that buttah flava) or coconut oil. Use maple syrup in place of the honey.For healthy oatmeal cookies banana edition, don’t miss my Banana Oatmeal Cookies, this recipe’s different but equally delicious cousin.If you are seeking healthy oatmeal cookies no flour (meaning no wheat flour in order to make the cookies gluten free), I’d suggest using a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend like this one in place of the wheat flour. Make sure your oats are certified GF also.For healthy oatmeal peanut butter cookies, you can bake Monster Cookies, which have a peanut butter oatmeal cookie base, but use raisins, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts for the mix-ins instead. YUM!For oatmeal cookies with a festive twist, try these Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies.
How to Freeze These Cookies
As I can recently attest, these healthy oatmeal cookies are highly freezer friendly. If you anticipate craving cookies in the future (who doesn’t?), you can either double the recipe and freeze half or bake only the oatmeal cookies you think you’ll eat in the next day or two right away, then freeze the remaining dough for fresh-baked healthy oatmeal cookies on demand.
^^Between you and me, I can’t believe that I actually had enough self control to freeze some of the dough versus baking and eating every single cookie immediately, but I am certainly happy that I did!
