I have become obsessed with these flourless mint chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. If you want a sweet treat that you will feel good about eating, then these cookies are for you!
So, what’s the obsession all about? First, I love mint chocolate chip and I practically grew up on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so these cookies have a lot of nostalgia for me. But why should you want to eat them? Lets explore the ingredients list to see what makes these cookies healthy!
The main ingredient that makes these cookies healthy is white beans! You read that correctly, these cookies are made with beans! Don’t worry, they taste nothing like beans because we use plenty of extract to cover up the beany flavors, including both vanilla extract and peppermint extract.
Ingredients in the Flourless Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Canned White Beans – Be sure to save the bean cooking liquid and whip it into your aquafaba! Mash the beans well with a fork or potato masher. The mashed beans are the glue that hold the cookies together along with the aquafaba. Canned aquafaba (not homemade) is best, see the notes below. I have used both navy beans and great northern beans with success.
Oatmeal – Provides texture and body, get gluten-free certified if necessary
Butter and Sugar – So that they taste just like a regular cookie
Peppermint and vanilla extract – To cover up any beany flavors and keep the cookies tasting great!
Baking Powder and Baking Soda – To leaven the cookies, making them soft
Milk – Any kind will do, I have used unsweetened soy milk and almond milk, and cow’s milk will also work
Salt – To bring out and amplify all the flavors!
Chocolate chips – I like semi sweet, but any variety will work! Use dairy-free for a vegan version.
Tips and Tricks for the Flourless Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Use Canned Bean liquid: I prefer to make homemade beans so it took me forever to figure out the biggest trick for success with this recipe. I learned from King Arthur that homemade aquafaba (bean cooking liquid) is much less reliable than from a can. If your aquafaba is not thick enough these cookies will spread in the oven and fall apart just by looking at them. Canned aquafaba is the only way to ensure success every time. In my experience, each can comes with enough bean liquid to make 4 batches and it can be frozen! Freeze 3 TBS in silicone muffin cups so you can pull out just what you need. Just thaw in the fridge and proceed with the recipe and your home-cooked beans!
- Can I use an egg instead? Ironically I did not have success with using an egg to replace the canned aquafaba, so I do not recommend it!
- Oats: I prefer a combination of quick and rolled oats in this recipe. The smaller quick oats hold everything together more easily so the cookies are slightly less crumbly and the rolled oats provide more texture. You can make it with just one or the other, it really doesn’t matter (which is why the recipe card just says oats).
- Cool the cookies completely: Being gluten free these cookies can become crumbly. Making sure that they cool completely after baking before lifting them from the pan helps them to stay together nicely (although it is hard not to eat them straight out of the oven!).
- Store in the fridge: The texture of these cookies is less crumbly when they are cold so I prefer to store them in the fridge and eat them cold.
- Do I really need to refrigerate the dough first? Yes! The mixture will not hold together well unless chilled and the cookies are more likely to spread and become crumbly in the oven. If my cookies are ready before the oven preheats then I stick the trays back in the fridge to keep them cold until baking!
- 15 oz can no salt added white beans, drained reserving 3 TBS liquid from the can*
- ½ cup butter, softened (or vegan butter)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk of choice (plant-based or regular)
- 1 tsp each: peppermint extract and vanilla extract
- 2 cups oats (quick and/or rolled)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp each: baking powder and baking soda
- ⅔ cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
- Mash the beans until there are no whole pieces left with a potato masher or a fork.
- Use an electric hand held mixer and beat the liquid from the canned beans for about 2 minutes on medium speed. The mixture should thicken slightly and may foam up somewhat.
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Add the beaten bean liquid (aquafaba) and mix until smooth. Add the mashed beans and mix about 1 minute or until well combined (the mixture may look a bit chunky).
- Mix in the milk, peppermint extract and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
- Add the oats, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix again until just combined.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Scoop about 2 TBS to form each cookie, flattening the cookies slightly as you go. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. You should get 24-25 cookies.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until the outside of the cookie is golden brown. Let the cookies cool completely before transferring to a plate. They will be crumbly until cooled.
Recipe inspired by Cool Beans by Joe Yonan.
