4 Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies Recipe (No Banana)
Chewy-centered, crisp-edged oatmeal cookies from rolled oats, drippy peanut butter, maple syrup, and chocolate chips. One bowl, no mixer, no banana, no egg, no flour, no butter
Equipment
- 1 Digital Kitchen Scale
- 1 Medium mixing bowl, 2 qt Glass or stainless
- 1 Silicone spatula
- 1 Half sheet pan, 18 x 13 in Light aluminum. Dark pans over-brown the bottoms
- 1 Parchment sheet
- 1 Cookie scoop, 1.5 tbsp (#40) Yields 12 even cookies
- 1 Wire cooling rack For transfer after the pan rest
- 1 Small bowl of water Wet your hands to shape sticky dough
Ingredients
- 150 grams rolled oats Old-fashioned. Certified gluten-free if needed
- 120 g grams creamy peanut butter Drippy at room temperature. Stir the jar from the bottom first
- 105 grams pure maple syrup Grade A amber or dark. Honey works, cut bake time 2 minutes
- 85 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips Dairy-free chips keep it vegan
Instructions
Prep
- Set a rack in the center of the oven. Heat to 350°F (177°C). For convection, drop to 325°F (163°C) and keep the time.
- Line the sheet pan with parchment. Do not grease it.
- Stir your nut butter jar from the bottom until no oil layer remains. Separated nut butter causes crumbly cookies more often than any other mistake.
Make the dough
- Stir the nut butter and maple syrup together for 30 to 45 seconds, until the mixture turns glossy and thickens slightly. Add vanilla now.
- Add the oats, chocolate chips, salt, and cinnamon. Fold for 60 seconds, scraping the bowl sides, until no dry oats remain. The dough should look thick and sticky, closer to a firm oat clump than a batter.
- Run the squeeze test. Press a spoonful in your palm. It should hold its shape without cracking. If it crumbles, add maple syrup 1 teaspoon at a time, up to 3. If it slumps, add oats 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 3.
Shape
- Wet your hands. Scoop 12 level 1.5 tablespoon portions onto the pan, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart.
- Press each mound to 1/2 inch thick with a damp palm. These cookies do not spread in the oven, so the shape you build is the shape you get. Patch cracked edges with wet fingertips.
Bake and cool
- Bake 15 minutes, until the edges turn golden and the tops look dry and matte. Rotate the pan 180° at 8 minutes.
- Leave the cookies on the hot pan for 15 minutes and do not touch them. They firm up entirely as they cool. Skipping this step breaks them.
- Move them to a wire rack.
Notes
- Optional - you can include 1/4 tsp fine sea salt (skip with salted nut butter), 1/2 tsp cinnamon or/and 1 tsp vanilla in the mix.
- Calories are per cookie.
- Weigh the nut butter. Volume measuring introduces a 15-gram swing, which is the single biggest cause of failed flourless cookies.
- Pull them at 13 minutes for chewier cookies. Bake 18 minutes and cool fully for crisp all the way through.
- Nut-free version uses sunflower seed butter or tahini at the same 120 g weight. Both carry similar fat levels, so the binding behaves the same.
- These do not spread. Press to 1/4 inch for thin and crisp, 1/2 inch for chewy, 3/4 inch for soft and dense.
- Storage holds 4 days airtight at room temperature, 10 days refrigerated, 4 months frozen. Freeze raw shaped balls and bake from frozen with 3 extra minutes.
- Double by weight, never by volume, and bake on two separate pans. A crowded pan steams the cookies and they will not set.
- Above 3,000 feet, moisture evaporates faster. Add 1 tablespoon of oats and check the cookies 2 minutes early.