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These Healthy Cookies are about to be your new favorite cookie recipe! They are made with 100% whole food ingredients: no flour, no added oil, and no added sugar. And oddly enough, they remind me of the popular “soft batch” cookies I used to eat when I was growing up.
Why You’ll Love Them
This recipe is what I consider the “healthiest cookies ever.” They are made with ingredients that you may already have in your pantry, and because they’re flourless, they’re naturally gluten-free, too.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Walnuts: Walnuts are a plant-based source of omega-3 fatty acids, specifically the essential fat alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Research shows that eating ALA may help to lower your risk of heart disease. The polyphenols found in walnuts may also help to fight inflammation.
- Dates: Dates are loaded with fiber and may be beneficial for controlling your blood sugar. Dates are considered a low-glycemic food, and have a high antioxidant content that may help lower inflammation and reduce the risk of diabetes.
- Flax Seeds: Ground flax seeds may help to lower cholesterol and they may help to lower blood pressure, too. Eating ground flax seeds regularly may even help to expedite weight loss, as well!
- Baking Soda + Vinegar. This combination helps them rise, without using eggs.
- Vanilla + Salt. Contributes to the classic cookie flavor you love.
- Dark Chocolate Chips. Or, you can use cacao nibs, raisins, or extra nuts as a sugar-free mix-in.
I use the flax seeds as an egg substitute in this recipe, and I think it keeps them a nice and soft in the center– which I love. If you would rather use a real egg, you can replace the flax seeds and water with one for a little more protein in this recipe.
Substitution note: I’ll often use pecans when I don’t have walnuts on hand, and the results are just as delicious! I think that buttery nuts work best in this recipe, so macadamia nuts would probably work well, too.
How to Make Them
- Grind the nuts. Add the walnuts to a food processor, and process briefly until they have a coarse, crumbly texture.
- Make the cookie dough. Add in the dates, salt, baking soda, vanilla, flax seeds, water, and vinegar (which reacts with the baking soda to help the cookies rise) and process again, until a sticky cookie dough is formed. Add in the chocolate chips, and process again briefly to mix them in.
- Scoop. Use a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet.
- Bake. The cookies will bake for 12 minutes or so, at 350ºF.
- Enjoy! Let the cookies cool completely on the pan. They are fragile when they are warm, but they firm up as they cool.
These healthy cookies have a soft and tender texture that reminds me of my childhood favorite “soft batch” cookies. If you prefer a firmer cookie, simply store them in the fridge or freezer, and serve them cold!
How to Store Them
These grain-free cookies will become softer if you store them in an airtight container at room temperature. I recommend storing them in the fridge or freezer and serving them cold after the first 24 hours.
(They usually sit out just fine at room temperature for the first day!)
More Healthy Cookie Recipes
If you have other ingredients on hand and are craving a cookie, you might also enjoy these healthy recipes:
- Date-Sweetened Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Chocolate Frosting (sweetened with dates!)
- Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Buckwheat Cookies
- Almond Butter Cookies
- Double Chocolate Cookies (also date-sweetened!)
- Coconut Flour Cookies
I hope you’ll enjoy these cookies whenever your sweet tooth strikes! Because they are made with nutrient-rich ingredients, I find that they leave me feeling satisfied much longer than a traditional cookie recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups raw walnuts
- 1 tightly packed cup medjool dates , pitted (8 ounces)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large food processor fitted with an "S" blade, briefly process the walnuts into a crumbly texture.
- Add in the dates, salt, baking soda, vanilla, flax, water, and vinegar. Process again, until the batter looks relatively smooth and sticky.
- Add in the chocolate chips, or any other mix-ins you like, and process briefly to mix them in. Use a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop to scoop the dough.
- Drop the cookie dough onto the lined baking sheet, and use your fingers to flatten and shape the cookies. (They don't spread much on their own.) I usually get about 16 to 18 small cookies from this batch.
- Bake at 350ºF for 12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. While the cookies are still warm, you can add a few more chocolate chips on top (if there are any spots that look bare). Let them cool completely on the pan, as they will be fragile while they are still warm. Store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer, and serve cold for the most firm texture.
Video
Notes
- I love the buttery flavor of these cookies when made with walnuts, but I have a feeling that pecans or almonds would work well, too.
- If you don’t have access to dates, raisins can be substituted in most cases, but the flavor will be slightly different.
- If you don’t want to use a flax egg, one chicken egg can be used instead.
- Optional add-ins that are free of added sugar include: cacao nibs, raisins, shredded coconut, chopped nuts
Nutrition
If you try these healthy cookies, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like them!
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Reader Feedback: What other date-sweetened desserts would you like to see in the future?
I am so excited!!! These did taste like soft batch cookies!! So skeptical at first 🙂 i am blown away!!
Omg these sound so fantastic and love the super clean ingredient list with things that I have in my pantry!! I cannot wait to make these!
These were amazing! Planning on making another batch today!!
I made these last night and they are fantastic! You would never know that the only sweetener are the dates and that they are flourless and sugarfree. Truly amazing, thank you.
I just made these tonight and they turned out fabulous! I’ve been eating Paleo for the last few months and this is by far THE best baked item I’ve tried. The texture is wonderful! Not too sweet but not bland at all. Just the right balance of everything. I will be making these often. I have a retirement celebration to attend this week where food will be served, so I will take a few of these delish morsels to eat for dessert. Thank you so much for coming up with and sharing this recipe!
You know when you are tired! I combined, in my head, the ingredients for your Basil Lemonade, which is outta bounds with these Healthiest Cookies.
Please excuse.
Now just let me sit in the corner and have a sip of my lemonade with a bite from my cookie. I’m embarrassed. HaHa!
What do you think about using Agave syrup instead of Maple Syrup? I just have a lot more agave syrup in the pantry than maple and maple is so expensive where I live in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
As so many others have exclaimed all the recipes that I have tried so far have become mainstays in my arsenal to better more healthy living. Appreciate you!
Michael, check out http://authoritynutrition.com/6-healthy-sugars-that-can-kill-you/ or google “why agave syrup is bad for you” and you will find a lot of interesting information. maybe that helps answering your question? I substitute pureed dates whenever a recipe calls for sugar/syrup/etc. They contain fiber which is not the case in liquid or extracted sugars/sweeteners which means they get processed differently by the body/cells (not a very qualified scientific answer 😉 but the video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” by Robert Lustig (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) will do a better job 😉
Amazingly delicious! Once again, you’ve created a fantastic recipe with healthy ingredients. My family and I thank you!
These were the BEST! So easy to make and taste great! Making my second batch right now 😉 Thank you Detoxinista so much for developing these excellent recipies for us.
Easy, nutritious and amazingly delicious!
Thank you so much, we’re trying to only have
‘good’ desserts at home and this one fits the bill!