These no bake Oreo cookies are even better than an Oreo…
Homemade Oreo cookies?!
Ah, your eyes are playing tricks on you. What you really see is even better than an Oreo. These sandwich cookies look like Oreos, but they’re softer and chewier… imagine a cross between an Oreo and a candy bar.
That sounds fun, right?
Even more fun:
You don’t need an oven. These cookies are no-bake. 🙂
No Bake Oreo Cookies
Makes 30-34 sandwich cookies
- 1 cup walnuts (see nutrition link below, for substitutions) (120g)
- 1 and 1/3 cup pitted dates (I highly recommend Sunmaid, which are softer) (200g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp regular cocoa powder (or Dutch-processed for more of a “cookie” taste)
- coconut butter or raw cashew butter (see nutrition link below, for substitutions)
- optional: sweetener of choice, if a sweeter filling is desired
Combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor, and process until the dates are completely broken up. (I used a Cuisinart. For best texture results, don’t use a blender.) Transfer the dough to a ziploc-type bag, seal, and smush it into one tight ball. Then roll out onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper, and use cookie cutters to make circles (or other shapes!). Fridge or freeze the circles for a few minutes, so they’re firmer and therefore easier to frost. Once firm, spread the filling on 1/2 the circles and then top with remaining circles.
These are best stored in the fridge or freezer, as coconut butter melts at room temperature. (P.S. coconut butter really doesn’t have a coconutty flavor, if you were worried about that. Its flavor is more like shortbread. However, feel free to use one of the other options if you’d prefer.)
When was the last time you had an Oreo?
I don’t like hard cookies, so I was never really big on Oreos. But I love the cookies ‘n cream flavor. Cookies ‘n cream ice cream, cookies ‘n cream cupcakes, cookies ‘n cream lip balm… yes, they do make such a thing!
Do you remember the game where two people twist the Oreo, and the person with the cream side will supposedly have good luck? In elementary school, I think we played that game every single day at lunch. It never got old.
Link Of The Day:
Side note: As I wrote earlier, today’s recipe isn’t supposed to be an exact copycat for Oreos. I’m still working on that… I have the cookie part down, but I’m stuck for filling ideas since I’m trying not to use coconut butter or tofu (since so many people ask for substitutions when I make recipes with those ingredients. Y’all are a tough bunch to please! 😉
I can’t have regular oreos — I’m allergic to chocolate! But I do love me some golden oreos.
Any idea what I could sub for the cocoa powder so I could make these chocolate-free?
what about carob powder? it’s even healthier than cocoa! the taste is a little sweeter than (unsweetened) cocoa, so I’d think you wouldn’t need another sweetener. Not everyone loves carob, but I think it’s delicious and goes very well with lots of recipes that call for cocoa/chocolate.
Hmm, I’m not a huge fan of carob, but I can certainly give it a try. There’s no flavor that enough sugar can’t disguise, I’m sure!
Thanks for the idea!
Goodness! A chocolate allergy!
Anyway, I think if you just leave the chocolate out you will kind of have vanilla oreos? 🙂
I’m afraid that if I just omit the cocoa powder, I’ll end up with some sort of paste. Maybe I could try subbing all-purpose flour, as long as it’s something powdery that will hold the cookies together?
Or sub ground nuts in, maybe almonds, or flax seed – or peanut flour? I think as long as you’ve got the same dry-to-wet ratio, it should be fine 🙂
I haven’t had an oreo since I went gluten free. But I have had similar sandwich cookies that were gluten free.
I might try to turn these into frosted bars…
Oh my gosh, this made my life. Im wondering if u could use these and cover them in chocolate for a healthy alternative to Oreo balls… Hmm… 🙂
Covered in chocolate is always a good thing!
Question on coconut butter- I made some and put it into a jelly jar in the fridge, but now I can’t figure out how to get it out to measure it! Should I microwave the jar until it’s smooshy? Or should I have not put it into a jar? It’s a really hard texture right out of the fridge, and it can kind of be scraped at with a knife, but not well enough to measure.
These cookies look pretty good – I’m going to try them and bring them to work and see if I can convince the people on my team to try them!
I don’t think you need to put coconut butter in the fridge, I never do anyway. At room temp. it’s supposed to be spreadable, but mine is always kinda hard except when the weather outside is really hot (which doesn’t happen that often around here). You could wait till it’s a little softer at room temp., then scoop out some spoonfulls and melt them on the stove/in the microwave. that’s what I always do. Or you could put the jar in a waterbath and heat the water till the butter gets soft. I don’t have a microwave, so no idea if you can put a whole jar in there…
I fully admit that I am not patient enough for a water bath and put the entire jar (minus the lid) in the microwave. In WA state I am sure I am going to be lucky if mine is soft maybe one month out of the year sitting on the shelf.
You can also put it in a warm oven that’s already turned off but is cooling down, just for 5 minutes or so.
So this might be a silly question….but I don’t see the recipe for the filling. Is that just the coconut butter?
Sorry for the confusion! Yes, oddly enough I thought just the coconut butter alone was shortbread-y enough to stand as the filling. It doesn’t taste coconutty! (You can also mix some sweetener into the coconut butter if you’d prefer a sweeter filling.)
Even though regular oreos are about the worst thing you can eat, I still am tempted to eat them! This recipe looks delicious and sounds like the perfect healthy substitution! I love they are no bake! I will for sure make these the next time I get confronted with a real oreo! Thanks for sharing!
LOL. I totally hear you. They are kind of the poster child for “junk vegan.”
I LOVE soft cookies, so much nicer than hard ones!! The only way to have a hard cookie is with a cup of tea!
The oreo filling you are stuck on …. how about something like quark (do you guys have it?) … its a low fat soft cheese – with something like vanilla and ground almonds it might give you a good consistency?
Thanks for the great recipes 🙂
Shelly
My mom was a big oreo fan so I grew up on them! I haven’t had one in a while though since I can’t have gluten anymore!
woohoo!
all i got to do is wait til you come up with the filling idea.
I haven’t a good blender to make my own and local stores don’t sell coconut butter 🙁
til then i suppose we’ll just live on “crust” (of cookie) and water 😛
jk
The coconut butter is the filling!