These gluten-free, low-sugar Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies are the perfect after school snack! Made protein-rich oats and almonds, my picky-eater niece and nephew gave these the 2 thumbs up (and emptied the cookie jar).
My niece and nephew were here visiting this weekend. Xander lived the first year of his life 8,000 miles away from family (literally), so it’s been really great seeing him bond with his cousins the past 2 months.
When we were visiting my brother’s family last month, I made a fruit pizza with them. It was a great sneak peak of what I will be able to do with Xander soon! This weekend, while Xander was playing with his grandma, I made frozen yogurt with the two of them. That recipe will be coming soon– it’s a “hidden greens” recipe. And my 2 and 3 year old niece and nephew didn’t even blink when watching me add the vegetables. To them, those are just normal frozen yogurt ingredients!
These cookies are another sneaky way to pack more vegetables into tiny eaters. I never thought I would give my 1 year old cookies, even as healthy as these are, but when he refuses to open his mouth during meals, I find myself loosening up on those ideals more and more! The reality of parenting, right?!
These have a bit of coconut sugar and honey, but the rest of the ingredients are super nutritious- whole grain oats, high protein almond flour, egg, coconut oil, zucchini, and I use Enjoy Life 70% dark chocolate morsels (<–which I buy on Amazon in a 5 lb. bag because buying an individual bag is ridiculously expensive!). Breakfast cookies are another option that he loves (and I freeze them and use them as teething soothers!), but when these are in the freezer, they are a-oh-kay in my opinion!
There isn’t anything much more comforting than coming inside on a cold day and having the house smell of freshly baked cookies — and those are memories from my childhood! I can’t wait to recreate those memories for my little one. Only my cookies will probably happen more often, because they are healthy and can be eaten as an everyday snack.
If you love baking with zucchini, you’ll LOVE these Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins.
Contents
Tips for Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- To make these gluten-free, make sure you buy certified gluten-free oatmeal.
- When making cookies like these, I mill my own oat flour. Just add whole oats to a blender or food processor, and blend/process until a flour is formed. It’s okay if it isn’t a perfectly smooth flour. These cookies aren’t nearly as good if using a store-milled oat flour.
- For best results, freeze these cookies. I like them straight out of the freezer. They are a little crumbly/soft for my liking hot off the pan, but Xander doesn’t complain either way!
Gluten Free Zucchini Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Dry
- 1 cup oat flour process whole oats in a food processor until a flour is formed*
- 1 cup almond meal or almound flour**
- 1 cup whole oats
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Wet
- 6 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed helps bind
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Mix-ins
- 1 1/2 cup zucchini shredded
- 1/3 cup walnuts chopped, optional***
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips I used Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Add the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl, and mix well.
- In a smaller bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients. Let stand for 2-3 minutes to allow the flax seed to gel. This helps bind the cookies, since there is so little sugar.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, and then add the zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
- Use a round tablespoon to scoop the cookies on to a cookie sheet. Wet the spoons, then pack the cookie dough tightly into the spoon. Place the mounds of cookie dough on a lined or non-stick baking sheet. Alternately, you can form small packed balls of dough.
- Using a wet hand (or I like to use the bottom of a glass, wet), flatten the cookies. Because they are low in sugar, they will not spread while baking.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. They will be crumbly while hot, but will firm up after they've cooled.
- For best results, keep frozen. They are extra chewy when eaten out of the freezer, and I prefer the chocolate frozen because it's crunchy!
Notes
Nutrition
I think everyone will be happy with these! Chocolate, zucchini, cookie! Sounds perfect to me!
Haha, yes! My son, who I swore I would never give sugar to until he was school age, is a chocolate chip fiend like me! When he isn’t being cooperative, I give him 4 or 5, and he totally forgets he’s unhappy.
I love that you can see little bits of ZUCCHINI in these cookies!
Me too! Green makes me happy.
I LOVE these zucchini chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and your son is adorable!!!
Thanks Alice — I think so too!
Xander, you have been caught red handed in the cookie jar…!!! LOL Glad your mum always makes such healthy fun snacks. Glad to hear that you are back visiting with family. It is so hot and humid in Asia in the summer… time to escape.