Vegan Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

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Chocolate No-Bake Cookies.  Ahhhh.  Yes.  My favorite cookie in the entire world.  A heavenly concoction of chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal.  Here’s a fantastic old-school version, one of my posts from the early days.

But, I can’t do it anymore.  I still want my favorite chocolate cookie, but I can’t justify consuming so much butter and sugar in a single sitting (and yes, I can down a lot of these cookies at once).  The other day I went to make some fudge and realized I didn’t have any sugar in my pantry.  I can’t even remember the last time I used sugar in a recipe, even (it’s been at least a couple of months-which is actually shocking, considering I felt like last year I always had it in my shopping cart).  I suddenly realized that my eating habits have drastically changed in the past year. And I am perfectly happy with that (and also ten pounds lighter).  It feels damn good.

So when a recent chocolate craving hit, I knew I wanted these.  But just an alternative vegan version.  Made with coconut oil (seriously, is there anything that coconut oil cannot do?  It’s like this amazing do-it-all miracle drug.  I’m going through it like water.), these have a definite mild coconut taste, so if you aren’t a coconut fan, you have fair warning.  Also, another side note: depending on the brand/solidity of your coconut oil and the amount of natural oils present in the peanut butter you use, you will want to chill these cookies.  Kept at room temperature on a hot day, these cookies were a little mushy and soft (but personally, I kind of like them this way.)  I decreased the amount of sweetness substantially from the original recipe and still found these cookies to be sweet, but not as sweet as the original version I’m used to. So if you like things a bit on the sweeter side, increase the amount of agave nectar to about 3/4 cup.

No white sugar.  No butter.  A chocolate cookie with actual flavor?  Could it be true?

We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen.

 

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Vegan Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

Servings: about 15 cookies

 

Ingredients

1/2 cup agave nectar (I used light agave nectar)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Instructions

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the agave nectar, coconut oil, and cocoa powder, stirring to combine.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes.

3. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the oats, peanut butter, coconut, and vanilla extract, mixing until thoroughly combined.

4. Drop the mixture by generous tablespoons onto waxed paper or parchment paper.  Let cool slightly and then chill.

 

Source:  Adapted from All Recipes.

 

 

June 18, 2013 - 1:59 pm

Miss Messy - These look like such fabulous little cookies 🙂

June 18, 2013 - 3:39 pm

Moira - I love the idea of coconut oil as a substitute! Can’t wait to try these-no bake cookies are definitely one of my weaknesses 🙂

June 18, 2013 - 3:54 pm

mr. & Mrs. P - These sound so wonderful.. YUM!

June 19, 2013 - 1:56 pm

Maria Tadic - These look super yummy – and super quick! I bet these would be good crumbled over ice cream! Definitely trying that!

June 19, 2013 - 2:11 pm

srlacy - Oooh, that WOULD be good!

June 19, 2013 - 2:32 pm

molly - these look so good! i’m not a big coconut fan… any substitution suggestions for the coconut oil? (i figure i can just leave out the coconut flakes)

June 19, 2013 - 2:41 pm

srlacy - Hi Molly-
I don’t have any other suggestions for the coconut oil, and the coconut flakes actually help really keep the cookie together. If you are ok with a non-vegan version, I would recommend the one I link to in the intro-it’s so good!

June 20, 2013 - 11:15 am

Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen - wow! coconut, peanut butter AND cocoa….these sound like the best no-bakes ever! These are definitely making their way to my kitchen 🙂

June 20, 2013 - 4:52 pm

Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile - I love chocolate and I love cookies! Perfect! I’ve been wanting to experiment with vegan cookies lately. These look great 🙂

June 27, 2013 - 5:41 pm

Sue - i just made these, and while they have a great choc/coconut/peanutty taste, they are a bit dry and crumbly. I feel like I should have added some almond milk.

June 27, 2013 - 6:48 pm

srlacy - Hi Sue-
Mine were the complete opposite. As I said in the post, it probably has something to do with the oil content of your peanut butter. If you are using a natural peanut butter with oils, the cookies should be more moist.

June 29, 2013 - 10:14 pm

Pam - What would be a good substitute for the agave nectar?

June 29, 2013 - 10:17 pm

srlacy - Hi Pam-
You can use honey if you want instead! 🙂

April 21, 2014 - 10:21 pm

kepod - No-bake cookies set because you’re kind of making a soft candy with the liquid you cook on the stove. If your results are crumbly, you might be cooking things on the stove too long.

Someone else’s comment that different peanut butters might have different levels of oil content is also a really good point.

October 31, 2014 - 3:31 pm

Easy Vegan No-Bake Chocolate Cookies - […] I came across this recipe on a site called The Curvy Carrot, and it was so f**king easy and required a minimal tweak to make it peanut-free that I went for it, […]

November 29, 2014 - 4:58 pm

Judy - Hi, Any sub for cocoanut flakes? I don’t have them. Thanks Judy