Chocolate Avocado Cookies
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Made with mashed avocado and chocolate chips, these Chocolate Avocado Cookies are extra moist and so delicious. They’re naturally vegan and are easy to make gluten free!
Yes, even vegans need cookies in their lives. You might think I’m crazy for mashing avocado and mixing it into a chocolatey cookie batter, but I promise you won’t be saying that after you try these Chocolate Avocado Cookies.
Impossibly moist and decadent, you’d never know these vegan avocado cookies are made without flour, eggs, or oil. Instead, I used avocado (of course), oats, peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate. This simple list of ingredients lets you skip the heavy stuff to still end up with rich, soft, and indulgent cookies.
No need to worry about the cookies tasting like avocado either. Just like my chickpea cookie dough, the sweet and chocolate flavors take over and the “healthy” taste from the fruit disappears. They may even be gooier than my vegan chocolate chip cookies, which is something that I thought was impossible!
Recipe features
- There’s no need for oil or butter when your cookies are made with avocado.
- They’re so easy to make gluten free – just swap the oats!
- Each bite is sweet, chocolatey, and nutty.
Ingredient notes:
Avocado – Make sure the avocado you use is ripe but not over ripe. Using avocado that feels really soft or has black or brown spots in the flesh will give your cookies a not-so-great flavor.
Peanut butter – Creamy is best, but you can use crunchy peanut butter for a little more texture. Feel free to swap this for almond butter or seed butter if you have an aversion to peanuts.
Maple syrup – When combined with cane sugar, these natural sweeteners give your cookies a subtle, never overwhelming sweetness.
Old fashioned oats – Also knows as “rolled oats”. The oats help bind the cookies together. I don’t recommend using quick oats because they soak up liquid much too easily and the cookies may not hold together as well.
Cocoa powder – Chocolate and avocado were, surprisingly, made for each other. A little cocoa powder goes a long way in these avocado chocolate cookies, helping each bite taste so rich and decadent.
Chocolate chips – For extra chocolatey goodness! Use vegan chocolate chips, like the Enjoy Life brand, or any brand you love.
How to Make Chocolate Avocado Cookies
Step 1: Mix the wet ingredients. Mash the avocado and scoop it into a ⅓ measuring cup. Combine the avocado with the peanut butter and maple syrup and stir to combine.
Step 2: Make the cookie dough. Add the oats, cocoa, sugar, salt, and chocolate chips in with the avocado mixture. Gently stir until you end up with a slightly sticky dough.
Step 3: Form the cookies. Use your hands to roll 3 or 4 tablespoons of dough at a time into balls. Place them on the baking sheet and use your hands to flatten them out.
Step 4: Bake and enjoy. Bake the cookies in the oven. When they’re done, let them cool completely on a cooling rack, then enjoy!
Tips and FAQs
- These cookies don’t expand or crisp much in the oven. Because of this, you’ll need to flatten the cookie dough balls with your hands to the size you like.
- Is the cookie dough sticking to your hands? Keep your hands wet the entire time you’re rolling the cookies so there isn’t as much mess.
How to bake with avocado
Avocado needs to be mashed and blended into your batter really well to avoid any big chunks or green pieces turning up in the finished product. You can mash avocado with a fork or even use an immersion blender or handheld mixer to get it silky smooth.
Why bake with avocado?
Avocado is like a miracle baking ingredient because it has enough healthy fats to replace the need for eggs, oil, butter, or shortening. It’s why I love using it in my chocolate avocado cake and my favorite avocado brownies.
Are avocado cookies healthy?
Avocado is packed with nutrients and helps us skip refined oils and butter in baking. Replacing white flour and sugar with old fashioned oats, maple syrup, and peanut butter gives these cookies extra fiber, a natural sweetness, and a little protein. While I wouldn’t technically call these avocado cookies a health food, they’re still healthier than the average cookie.
Can avocado cookies be made gluten free?
Yes! Just make sure the old fashioned oats you use are certified gluten free.
Storage
- Refrigerator: Keep the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
- Freezer: Store the baked cookies in a freezer-safe bag. They freeze well for about 1 month.
More cookie recipes:
Chocolate Avocado Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 avocado, mashed (approx. 1/3 cup)
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp cane sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray; set aside.
- Mash the avocado into a bowl, then scoop it into a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ensure you have the correct amount. Place the mashed avocado back into the bowl, then add the peanut butter and maple syrup; stir to combine.
- Next, add the oats, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and chocolate chips and use a rubber spatula to stir until everything is mixed together. NOTE: the dough should be a little sticky.
- Use your hands to roll the dough into 10 balls and place them directly onto the baking sheet and use your hands to flatten them out. Be sure to make the cookies the size you want them to be because they won't expand in the oven!
- Bake the cookies for 14 minutes. Remove them from the oven and carefully transfer them onto a cooling rack. Optional: drizzle them with extra peanut butter and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
UPDATE NOTE: This post was originally published in April 2015. It was updated with new text and photos in June 2021.
I am an early eater, too. I normally eat around 6/6:30, but that’s only because I force myself to wait that long so that I don’t have to eat TWO dinners (because if I ate any earlier than that, I would inevitably get hungry again before bed). I am old, and it’s fine. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to have to find my young spirit again when I start school in the fall, and I’m not exactly looking forward to it!
I’ve decided that you can basically sneak avocado into anything. Cookies is a new one for me though…I’ll have to give it a shot sometime 😉
I usually aim to have dinner ready for 6:30…which usually means that it’s ready around 7. I can do late dinners, but an extra snack is definitely vital to tide me over until then.
Good golly – these look incredible! What a brilliant idea to use avocado instead of butter! I have used avocado in muffins but never thought to use it in cookies! This is one idea I am gonna have to try for sure!
I eat dinner way earlier than 8.30 – I usually eat round 5/5.30 – sometimes even at 4.30, my days start at 4.00am so if I eat too late my hungry become hangry!!!
I have dinner between 7-8 but it depends on the day, and if I had a snack or whatever! I honestly try my every three hours routine, and I can’t spent too many hours without food, or I’ll just go crazy! the cookies look yummy gooey 😛
When I was working 9-5 I totally ate at like 5:30, grandma style. Now my kitchen is legit 10 feet away from me so I just graze all day. I tend to eat whenever Curt gets home from work which changes daily.
I’ve made avocado brownies and they were divine. Time to try avocado cookies!
Dinner at 8:30? Eeeee I’d be dead. I usually eat dinner around 5, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that I wake up around 5, so all my hours end up kind of wonky. How I used to stay up until 3 or 4 AM is beyond me — I’m usually in bed by 10 these days 😆
These look ooey gooey delicious indeed! I love that you got a mixer to check, that’s the kind of thing I would definitely do!
I eat at 6.30-7, 7.30 at a pinch but I’m starving by then. Ain’t no way I’d get to 8.30 without a snack beforehand or eating lunch later than usual to tide me over.
Hahahaha. I am totally one of those people too. Here in Sydney, it’s a ‘thing’ to eat dinner at 8-9pm or have plans for then (seating times at some restaurants have a 6.30 and an 8.30…wtf).
Those cookies look amazing- great job on the photos!
Yes! As you saw last week, I love putting avocado in my cookies too, and you would never know, especially in chocolate ones where you cannot see the green tint 🙂
Glad you had a fun night out, I am right there with you, I HATE it when my friends do not want to go eat until 8:30…or in England even 9pm!!! I end up so ravenous that I am not listening as all I am doing is watching the door of the kitchen that can get the food in my belly hahaha
I could totally eat dinner at 5pm… I feel your pain! And these cookies, thanks for not putting beans in them or making them too healthy. One healthy ingredient is all I can handle when it comes to cookies 😉 Hehe…