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! 😉
Honestly… I’m kind of… idk.. disappointed in this.. it seems like all your recipes are made out of the same ingredients, just different shapes… you used to have so much creativity!! i’m sad 🙁 they look pretty but i just can’t justify that a date and a little coconut is going to make it taste annnnyyything like a oreo… they look wonderful, though!!
Honestly… I’m kind of… idk.. disappointed that people like you exist, to think it’s ok to put people down who obviously work really hard. What exactly do you want? Most recipes use the same ingredients. I can even think of entire cookbooks called “1 mix, 100 cookies” or something like that. Many of us appreciate that CCK uses easy to find ingredients so we don’t have to spend a fortune buying new ingredients for every recipe. The creativity is finding new ways to use the same ingredients, not forcing readers to shell out money most of us don’t have to waste on an entire bag of some new ingredient we’re only going to use for one recipe.
How about this: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
I agree with anon that one of the best things about CCK’s blog (ok, one of the many best things) is how she doesn’t call for obscure ingredients. It helps save money, and it also helps for people like me who want to make whatever good looking thing she posts ASAP! 😉
Also, Jenny, maybe if you read this post, it’ll clear a few things up for you as to where CCK is keeping some of her best new recipes: https://lett-trim.today/2012/05/24/my-big-secret/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Look, I personally don’t think that Jenny’s original comment was mean or unkind. It is true that there is a limit to how many ingredients there are that are super-healthy that taste good in a dessert, so yes, most of her recipes have similar ingredients. I agree with her in that a regular Oreo probably tastes better. That’s not to say that Katie doesn’t work hard or have creativity, because she has a talent for baking healthily (and making it taste good! although coconut butter on a date cookie does not totally appeal to me, but I do love some good junk food treats every now and then), but it is true that the only real substitutes for butter are coconut butter/oil, etc.
I’d agree that her comment probably wasn’t meant to be rude, if only this part were taken out of her comment “you used to have so much creativity.” That’s pretty much a put-down, implying her blog’s gone downhill (when the opposite is true) and it’s uncalled for. If someone thinks they can do it better, by all means go ahead and try. But don’t put down someone else if you haven’t tried yourself. I am constantly amazed at how Katie can put so much creativity into her blog on such a regular basis. I would’ve run out of fun ideas a long time ago. Remember that if you could do it better, you would!
My favorite Aaron Sorkin quote: “If you were the inventors of facebook, you would’ve invevnted facebook.”
Katie, I am so excited for your book and to see what other recipes you’ve been hiding from us. (If you could post those cinnamon rolls ahead of time…….. ;))
@Stella: If you email me, I’ll explain. It was NOT personal ;).
if you read the post katie says its not supposed to be a copycat recipe for oreos, they just look similar.
I think you might be trying to kill us…in a good way. 😉 But the question is, do these really taste anything like Oreos?
Ok this is gonna sound weird, but I thought they did! I didn’t think they would, so I made sure to use the Dutch cocoa to give them a better chance. I also added a little bit of stevia (nu naturals brand) to my coconut butter. The “cookie” part actually did remind me of an oreo, and the filling was even better than oreo filling! I think the only “un oreo” thing about them was the texture. Maybe if you had a dehydrator it would be more oreo like?
You are officially an angel. Healthy Oreos? Who ever dreamed it would be possible?
I made my own coconut butter for the first time today! So good I pretty much at the whole batch plain in one sitting…whoops! On the topic of coconut…I can’t get myself to like coconut flour…everytime I use it I think it has a funny taste. Do you think I could have gotten bad flour? It tastes really wheaty or grainy or something I am not sure.
It just has a very different flavor. Some people like it, some people not.
I am not a huge Oreo fan but these look divine!!! My daughter LOVES Oreos though so I am going to make these and see whats he thinks of them. If I can get her to eat these instead of the regular ones I will be thrilled!!!
How do you substitute dates? thare very expensive to use by the cup full.
P.s you take the best photos!
Hi Brin –
I used to do the majority of her no-bake with prunes instead of dates (I can get huge bags of prunes at Costco and go through a lot of them). One day I bought dates and did a bit of a recipe show-down between a couple of recipes I know well to compare dates versus prunes.
I like prunes and they work fine, but there is no denying that dates are sweeter and less “fruit-juice” sweetened in final flavor.
Not sure if this helps or not, but in my opinion prunes are a cheaper option although not a superior one.
You can actually find dates already in a paste form and they are super cheap. I get them at the middle eastern market for only $1.99…that was enough to make one batch of these.
I last ate an oreo …. 5 seconds ago when your first photo made me run into the kitchen and grab one >.<
Ohh amazing! And no refined sugar as well!
I was surprised when I found out that Oreo Cookies are vegan (I used to nanny for a child who had a milk allergy and learned this then). Then I realized they are probably vegan because they are made with mostly chemicals. Now I don’t eat them at all. Which is sad because they were delicious in a chemical-ly kind of way. 🙂
What about Newman Os? I traded my Oreos for Newman Os. Better company, too, because the profits go to charity :).
Good idea! If I wasn’t already on a low-calorie diet, I probably would!
Marzipan, Katie! I’ll bet that marzipan would make a good filling that would be similar to the original! Maybe if you mixed with your powdered sugar substitute recipe to give it a shorter, more crumbly consistency like the real Oreo has but still keep the sugar low?