I love these no-bake cookies.
I actually need to thank one of my co-workers for giving me this grain-free idea.
A few years ago, she wanted to make a batch of traditional no-bake cookies– the kind made with chocolate, peanut butter and oatmeal. While preparing the cookies, she realized she had run out of oatmeal! Instead of making a quick trip to the grocery store, this clever co-worker decided to use some slivered blanched almonds that she had sitting in her pantry instead. The result was fantastic! She brought them into the office to share, and they were all gone by lunch time.
Ever since, I’ve never felt the need to use oatmeal again.
I’ve also kept this recipe nut-free, using sunflower seed butter for my readers with nut allergies. If you haven’t tried it, sunflower butter tastes very similar to peanut butter! For the chewy filling, I tried a few variations, including sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, and coconut flakes– all with delicious results. My taste-tester, Austin, found the coconut filling a little too distracting (“too coconut-ty”), so he preferred the sunflower seed batch the most. Personally, I prefer the coconut flakes, since they have a similar texture to traditional rolled oats.
Whichever variation you choose, I hope you’ll enjoy them!
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No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (Grain-free, Nut-free)
makes 2 dozen
Adapted from The Food Network
Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil, or butter
1/2 cup Once Again Sunflower Seed Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups sunflower seeds (slivered almonds, or coconut flakes may be substituted)
Directions:
Combine the honey, cocoa powder, sea salt and coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil for one minute, stirring occasionally. Remove the mixture from the heat, and add in the vanilla and sunflower seed butter, stirring well until smooth.
Add in the 2 cups of sunflower seeds, slivered almonds or coconut flakes, and mix well to coat. Use a spoon to drop the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and transfer the cookies to the fridge or freezer to set.
When the cookies are solid, they should be easy to remove from the parchment paper. Serve immediately!
*Note: Despite my best efforts, these cookies will soften a bit when left at room temperature for too long. I’ve tried making batches with honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar, all with the same softening results. For a firm texture, keep them chilled before serving.
No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (Grain-free, Nut-free)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup coconut oil , or butter
- 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 cups sunflower seeds , slivered almonds, or coconut flakes
Instructions
- Combine the honey, cocoa powder, sea salt and coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil for one minute, stirring occasionally. Remove the mixture from the heat, and add in the vanilla and sunflower seed butter, stirring well until smooth.
- Add in the 2 cups of sunflower seeds, slivered almonds or coconut flakes, and mix well to coat. Use a spoon to drop the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and transfer the cookies to the fridge or freezer to set.
- When the cookies are solid, they should be easy to remove from the parchment paper. Serve immediately! These cookies will soften a bit when left at room temperature for too long, so for a firm texture, keep them chilled before serving.
Nutrition
Calories per cookie: 140, Fat: 10g, Carbohydrates: 10g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 3g
Substitution Notes:
- Vegans can replace the 1/2 cup honey with 1/2 cup maple syrup OR 1 cup coconut crystals (add 1/4 cup water for the crystals), for a more complex brown-sugar flavor.
- Sunflower butter can be replaced with any other nut butter, such as almond, peanut or cashew– keep in mind that any changes will affect the flavor.
- The cocoa powder can be left out is chocolate is not tolerated.
- Sunflower butter varies a LOT depending on brand, so using a brand other than Once Again may affect the results. For example, Trader Joe’s sunflower seed butter is much sweeter in comparison, so you may want to reduce the honey to compensate.
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Reader Feedback: Are you a fan of no-bake cookies? What’s your favorite easy cookie recipe?
What a brilliant recipe! I’ve always wondered how to make these no bake cookies in a grain free version! These are genius
What a nice healthy alternative for cookies. And the no bake is even nicer. Kids could help with these. Thanks for sharing.
Wow these looks A-MAZING! I have all the ingredients and I can’t wait to make them 🙂 Thanks!
oh man…i have some raw pepitas that would be perfect here. you keep sucking me in with the grain free treats haha. my fave easy treats are usually some mish mash of medjool dates, raw cacao + nut or seed
I love that kind of treat, too! Dates + chocolate + ANYTHING is delicious. 🙂
Sunflower butter and cocoa powder were all I needed to read to be convinced; everything else is just a bonus. I made something similar to these for Thanksgiving with a bit of leftover melted chocolate, tahini, and coconut oil with oats and raisins. No-bake cookies are such a simple and delicious treat!
I was so excited to see this recipe since I have multiple allergies that are present in most baking and paleo baking. I just tried the recipe. Are you sure that you replace a half of a cup of honey or maple syrup with 1 cup of coconut sugar? I could not get the coconut sugar to melt and liquify. My cookies came out crumbly and super rich. I want to try this again, but can you clarify that substitution for me please? Thanks!
You know what? I totally forgot that I added 1/4 cup of water when I used the coconut crystals. Sorry about that! The extra liquid does help them dissolve. I’ll update the substitution notes!
I am so excited to see this recipe! I was at my parent’s yesterday & they had a batch of these, but due to allergies I can’t eat them. It’s nice to have a version that I’ll be able to enjoy too. THANKS!
Yum! I do love no bake cookies, since I always tend to let the bake ones bake for too long. I made a recipe once with oats, bananas…chia seeds, I don’t remember but it was great!
I had a quick question! I sent in an email to be put on your wait list for coaching – I was wondering if you were still planning on sending something out for the New Year! I’ve been excited to learn about pricing, etc. 🙂 Thanks!!
Yes, I’m planning on a new affordable coaching format for the new year– I’ll be making an announcement about it hopefully by the end of next week!
Yay so excited! Thank you!!
These look SO good, but I have a cocoa powder intolerance – would melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips sub well? Or perhaps something else?
Yes, I bet the chocolate chips would work! They might even make the cookies hold together better.
Can you replace the sweetener with stevia liquid? If so, should you add water to compensate? Thanks!!!
In this particular recipe, the boiled honey is what makes the cookies hold together, so I don’t think stevia would work.
If you can tolerate a granulated zero-calorie sweetner, like xylitol, that might work? I’d follow the instructions for the coconut crystals if you want to try that. (Adding 1/4 cup water to help them dissolve.) Please let us know if you have any success!
Looks delicious… but this is such a tease. Are you still on your sweetener-free challenge?
I know, I feel bad posting these around all of my sugar-free friends! I’m still doing my best to stay sugar-free, but it is the holiday season, so I can’t NOT post cookie recipes, right?! 😉
Luckily, I had already planned my cookie recipes for the rest of this year before the sugar-free challenge started, so I’m only temped by the pictures… not the actual cookies!
Ah, ok!! I knew I was bucking the trend with posting my sweetener-free eats! Although I have a neat protein cake to share next week. 🙂
they look delicious
Mmmmm I love making homemade chocolate! I usually substitute dried fruit (blueberries, raisins and unsweetened cranberries are all great choices) for honey.Coconut flakes make for a really appealing chewy texture too. I’ve also been known to combine nuts with seeds and justify eating this for breakfast because it has healthy fats, antioxidents and protein 🙂
Is that possible to replace the “Once Again Sunflower Seed Butter” for something else?
Please see my FAQ page for substitution questions.
I just found this recipe and your site! I have these ingredients in my pantry. Love when that happens! Cant wait to make these this weekend. Look forward to following your site too.
I love no-bake chocolate cookies; it’s one of my favorite cookies from my childhood. I so look forward to giving this recipe a try!
Made these last night & they were super easy & super delicious. Will be making more ine a few days Thanks for the recipe 🙂
why would this recipe say nut-free when it’s it clearly stating that nut butter or slivered almonds are the best choice for toppings..
bad choice of words for a title….
No where in this recipe does it say that nut butter or slivered almonds are the best choice for toppings. This recipe calls for sunflower seeds and sunflower seed butter– both of which are NUT-FREE.
In fact, I even stated that my husband preferred the batch with the sunflower seeds, and I prefer the batch with coconut. Again, both of these fillings are completely nut-free. I only included slivered almonds as an “option,” because I often get asked about substitutions and I wanted to cover all my bases for my readers.
Did you use raw sunflower seeds or toasted? Same question for the sun butter. Thanks!
As far as I know, most sunflower seed butters on the market are not raw. I do use raw sunflower seeds, because that’s the only type I purchase, but I’m sure toasted would work, too, if you prefer that flavor!
My husband and I love these, we make them as is and we have also used a sunflower/pumpkin seed combo (excellent!). I make these every other week that is how much we love them. This recipe is so quick and easy to do. Thank you for such a solid recipe!
Thanks so much for the recipe. Tried it last night and was fantastic. I used a combo of all the fillings: thus, divided the 2 cups into even 1/3 ration: raw sunflower seeds, slivered almonds and shredded coconut. Taste a little sunflower heavy so maybe next time since I used the sunflower butter I will balance out with the filling omitting the sunflower seeds and using 1 cup shredded coconut and 1 cup slivered almonds. Thanks again for this genius creation.
I just made these using Quinoa flakes and they are really, really good. I ended up adding in about 2 tbls more cocoa in the first step because I didnt think it was chocolatey enough, so now the cookies are very rich and a bit dry(still yummy). So, next time, I think I will add in the 1/4 c cocoa only and add some Mini chocolate chips in with the quinoa flakes and possibly some sunflower seeds.
Thanks for a great and versatile recipe!
These are AH-mazing! Perfect for a non baker like myself. I was just short of sunflower seeds so I made up the diff (abt 10%) with shredded coconut, turned out great! Thank you so much!!!
Wow my 3 boys and husband ate them like crazy. Wanted to tell you my husbands Armenian and were all from Glendale, Ca. I’m Italian so it’s different with ALL of them their but I love their food. Thank you as I’m a diabetic 2 and I can’t thank you enough for the recipes you rebirthed in a healthy way so I can better care for my health when I’m feeling like a sweet treat thanks to you I don’t have to feel guilty. I’m going to purchase your book and since then we’ve moved to Dallas. So if you need me to get the word to diabetics here …..(I’ve joined a diabetic 2 class I’m surely going to make sure to tell them) Thank you again for saving all of us from the awful food they have to choose from that you mad a difference in all the lives…… that value a good life. Blessings to you and your family. Sheri
I LOVE these no bake cookies and many more of your recipes, THANK YOU!
I varied mine using cashew nut butter, 1 cup raw sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup shredded coconut and 1/2 cup slivered almonds. This is a GREAT combo and the cookies hold together really well.
Today I have tried 1 cup raw sunflower seeds and 1 cup shredded coconut, also with cashew nut butter, very good but version 1 gets my Number One vote so far 🙂
Thank you Megan for all you share, it is deeply appreciated xoxo
These were awesome! I didnt have the sunflower butter so I used natural peanut butter. I actually used a mix of gluten free oats and sunflower seeds. AMAZING treat! 🙂
OMG! I literally woke up read the recipe and made them, after I brushed my teeth. They are awesome! I substituted almond butter because it’s what I had and HEMP SEEDS! I used 1 3/4C hemps seeds and 1/4c coconut! THANKS for the recipe!
These were just what I have been looking for. I did change a couple of things, but perfect!
I have tried a couple of other recipes, but they were often oily. Not yours. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I didn’t have any almond butter or sunflower seeds so I substituted for pumpkin seeds and peanut butter. I also used 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 1/4 of almond milk in substitute of the honey. They turned out fabulous! Uh! So scrumptious! With peanut butter they kind of remind me of muddy buddies (: Thank you for the great recipe!
I just make these with pepitas instead of sunflower seeds, and did the coconut crystals with a little water variation as the sweetener, and they are perfect! Thank you for the recipe! I love that the recipe doesn’t call for any obscure ingredients, and I already had everything on hand. Peace & progress & cookies!
These are SO delicious!! I’m GF and I’ve recently gone dairy and grain free, too and was desperate for a sweet treat – these were perfect. I had to make some substitutions as I was out of some of your ingredients – I used maple syrup instead of honey, I used a mix of cashew & peanut butter and I did a mix of sunflower & pumpkin seeds plus shredded coconut. I think I ate half of the mixture before I put any on the tray!! Thank you for the great recipe.
Love these! I added a pinch of chia seeds and ground flax to the mixture, and they are the perfect healthy fix for a sweet tooth !!!
These are hands down my family’s favorite cookies! Sometimes I make a non paleo version and sub gluten free oats for the sunflower seeds. Either way, they are always delicious!
I love this recipe because it’s very easy to make and you can do so many variations. I put the butter I had on hand which was almond butter and instead of sunflower seed I put cereal rice puffs. It was very delicious! Thank you Megan!!! I love your recipes!