Vegan Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

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.

 

 

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.