You Will Never Buy Oreo Cookies Again Once You Make Your Own Like This

Ah, Oreos! For over 100 years they have been the go-to treat for people all over the world. These snacks not only taste pretty nice, they are vegan too, which means they must be healthy, right? Wrong!

Packed full of ingredients, many of which you might not even be able to pronounce, these cookies could be damaging your or your child’s health from the inside out. Fear not, though, we have pulled together some vegan, refined sugar-free, raw recipes so you can still get your cookie fix.

Stop eating Oreos, start enjoying Raw-eos!

How Bad Are Oreo Ingredients?

Although the ingredients of Oreos have certainly improved, especially in recent years, they still certainly live up to their reputation as a treat, and should be eaten sparingly! If you take the time to read the ingredients list for Oreos, you might never want to eat one again.

Each of the tiny cookies contains around two teaspoons of sugar (4). As I am sure you are aware, sugar has been linked to all kinds of health conditions including obesity and diabetes. On top of all that sugar, the manufacturers add high fructose corn syrup. This particular ingredient has been linked to several health complications, such as increased triglyceride levels (basically, the level of fat in your blood (3), metabolic syndrome, and diabetes (4).

Furthermore, that creamy filling we all have fond memories of scraping off the cookies with our teeth? It contains an artificial flavor known as vanillin. This synthetic flavor can be made using petrochemicals and waste products from the paper industry – it’s extracted from wood pulp! (4)

Finally, do you find that you can’t stop at just one or two cookies, even though on the packet a serving size is listed as just three cookies? There may be a reason for this. In 2013, a study at Connecticut College which tested at the addictive nature of Oreo cookies on rats found, “[They] formed an equally strong association between the pleasurable effects of eating Oreos… as they did between cocaine or morphine.” (1) That’s right – scientists found that Oreos may be as addictive as cocaine!

So, what’s the alternative?

Homemade Oreos

Here is a collection of the healthiest, tastiest Oreo alternative recipes out there. Raw, free from refined sugar, and using only all-natural (and easy to pronounce) ingredients, you and your family can enjoy every last one of these cookies completely guilt-free!

Oaty Oreos

Recipe from The Colorful Kitchen

Makes: 12 cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1 cup oat flour
8 pitted dates, soaked at least 30 minutes

¼ cup cacao or cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 Tablespoons maple syrup

dash of salt

For the Creme:

1 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hours

¼ cup coconut butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Take the oat flour, dates, cacao powder, coconut oil, maple syrup, and salt and blend until smooth.
Roll the mixture out onto parchment paper until it’s around a ¼ inch thick. Use a circular cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Transfer them to a plate and place in freezer to set.
Prepare the creme filling by first draining the cashews, then blending them with the coconut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla, until smooth.

Remove the cookies from the freezer. Spread the filling into the cookies to create sandwiches. You can pop them back in the freezer for 15 minutes, so they set fully before enjoying. Store in refrigerator (if you don’t eat them all in one sitting!).

6-Ingredient Oreo Cookies

Recipe from Glow Kitchen

Makes: 10 – 15 cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1 cup walnuts

8 pitted dates
1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder
A pinch of sea salt

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the Creme:

1/2 cup coconut butter

Instructions

Blend all of the cookie ingredients until a small ball is formed.
Roll the mixture out to around half an inch thick then place into the freezer – this will make it much easier to work with.
Use a cookie-cutter to make discs from the mixture.

Place one teaspoon of the filling onto each cookie and place another cookie on top to create your sandwich!

Walnut Oreo Cookies

Recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie

Makes: 30 – 34 cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

One cup of walnuts

1 and 1/3 cup pitted dates
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/16 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons regular cocoa powder

For the Creme:

Coconut butter or raw cashew butter, whichever you prefer!

Instructions

Combine the cookie ingredients in a food processor, and process until the dates are completely broken up.
Transfer the dough to a seal-able sandwich bag, seal, and roll it into a tight ball.
Next, roll your mixture out onto a sheet of parchment paper, and use a cookie cutter to create the round cookies.

Put them in the freezer for 10 minutes, so they’re firmer and easier to work with. Once firm, spread the filling on half of the cookies, before topping them with remaining cookies.
Make sure you store your finished snack in the fridge – coconut butter melts at room temperature, and you could end up with some messy cookies!

Dehydrated Rawified Oreo Cookies

Recipe from Rawified

Makes: 8 cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup of flax seed
1 Tablespoon honey or agave

1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Creme:

1/4 cup cashews
2 Tablespoons shredded coconut

2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 Tablespoon honey or agave
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Use a coffee grinder to grind the flax seeds and shredded coconut into a fine powder.
Add these into a blender, along with the almonds and cacao powder, and mix until you have a floury consistency.
Add the honey and vanilla into the blender to create a more workable dough. Remove from the blender, roll into a log, and cut into sixteen discs.

Place the discs in your dehydrator at 118 degrees for four to six hours – flipping them halfway through.
For the filling, grind cashews and shredded coconut, before mixing in the honey, vanilla, and coconut oil until smooth. Make your cookies into sandwiches and dehydrate for another two hours or so, until as dry as you would like. Store in refrigerator.

Raw Oreo Cookies

Recipe from The Healthy Maven

Makes: 15 cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup flax
1/2 cup dates (soaked for 15-30 mins)

pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup cacao

For the Creme:

One cup raw cashews (soaked for 2-8 hours, longer the better)
1 Tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon stevia extract powder (or more maple syrup, to taste)
1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Instructions

Place the almonds, flax, and dates in a blender and blend until it reaches a rice-like consistency.

Add in the cacao and sea salt and continue to blend until all the ingredients come together into a ball (about 5-10 mins).
Take two sheets of wax or parchment paper and pat with a little coconut oil so nothing sticks.
Place your dough on the sheet and cover with another sheet of the paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out until the dough is a 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out circles using a cookie cutter, and leave them in the fridge while you work on the cream.
Blend the cashews, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Then, scrape vanilla bean seeds and stevia into the mixture, blending for another minute until well combined.
Remove the cookies from the fridge and spread the cream onto one cookie, covering with another.

What Makes These Oreo Cookie Recipes Healthy?

Not only do all of these recipes cut out the harmful levels of sugar and other artificial flavorings and preservatives, they replace them only with natural, great tasting ingredients, which could benefit your health in a number of ways:

Cashews

Cashews contain folate (helping your body to create red blood cells) and vitamin K (helping your blood to clot when it needs to.) However, their mineral content, particularly copper and magnesium, make them wonderful healthy additions to your diet! (10)

Coconut Oil

Another ingredient that made it into many of these recipes is coconut oil. Though it is a fat, fat is still required by the body to perform numerous functions – as much as 35 percent of your daily calories need to come from fat! Coconut oil is one of the healthiest ways of getting this necessary nutrient into your diet. It can even improve your cholesterol levels (11).

Dates

These delicious fruits are loaded with fiber, which can help a lot with digestion, as well as help lower cholesterol. They can also lower the level of fat in your blood, and give you a boost in B-vitamins – vital for improving food metabolism and the formation of new blood cells (12).

Get Creating!

So there you have it. Five super easy variations on the Oreo recipe, but all of these will have your body, as well as your tastebuds, thanking you!

Here are some more delicious cookie recipes you have to try:

The Brookie (Brownie & Cookie)
The Banana Cookie
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (w/chickpeas)

Sources:

1. Strauss V. Rats find Oreos as addictive as cocaine — an unusual college research project. Washington Post. 2016. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/18/rats-find-oreos-as-addictive-as-cocaine-an-unusual-college-research-project/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

2. Nabisco Oreo Nutritional Information. com. 2016. Available at: http://www.snackworks.com/products/product-detail.aspx?product=4400003202. Accessed September 19, 2016.

3. How to Lower Your Triglycerides. WebMD. 2016. Available at: http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/lowering-triglyceride-levels. Accessed September 19, 2016.

4. Isitbadforyoucom. 2016. Available at: https://www.isitbadforyou.com/questions/are-oreos-bad-for-you. Accessed September 19, 2016.

5. Raw Oreos V. Raw Oreos Vegan Gluten-Free. The Colorful Kitchen. 2015. Available at: http://thecolorfulkitchen.com/2015/03/25/raw-oreos-vegan-gluten-free/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

6. Vegan and Raw Oreo Cookie Recipe – Glow Kitchen. Glow Kitchen. 2014. Available at: http://www.glowkitchen.com/2014/05/vegan-raw-oreo-cookie-recipe/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

7. Katie C. No Bake Oreo Cookies. Chocolate Covered Katie. 2012. Available at: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/06/11/no-bake-oreo-cookies/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

8. Raw Oreos. Rawifiedblogspotca. 2016. Available at: http://rawified.blogspot.ca/2012/05/raw-oreos.html. Accessed September 19, 2016.

9. Maven D. Raw Oreo Cookies – The Healthy Maven. The Healthy Maven. 2013. Available at: http://www.thehealthymaven.com/2013/06/raw-oreo-cookies.html. Accessed September 19, 2016.

10. Chandler B. Which Vitamins Are in Cashews?. LIVESTRONGCOM. 2013. Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/249359-what-vitamins-are-in-cashews/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

11. Traister JTraister J. Importance of Coconut Oil. LIVESTRONGCOM. 2011. Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/481104-importance-of-coconut-oil/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

12. What Are the Benefits of Eating Dates?. LIVESTRONGCOM. 2013. Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/507760-what-are-the-benefits-of-eating-dates/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

Image Sources:

1. Raw Oreos V. Raw Oreos Vegan Gluten-Free. The Colorful Kitchen. 2015. Available at: http://thecolorfulkitchen.com/2015/03/25/raw-oreos-vegan-gluten-free/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

2. Vegan and Raw Oreo Cookie Recipe – Glow Kitchen. Glow Kitchen. 2014. Available at: http://www.glowkitchen.com/2014/05/vegan-raw-oreo-cookie-recipe/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

3. Katie C. No Bake Oreo Cookies. Chocolate Covered Katie. 2012. Available at: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/06/11/no-bake-oreo-cookies/. Accessed September 19, 2016.

4. Raw Oreos. Rawifiedblogspotca. 2016. Available at: http://rawified.blogspot.ca/2012/05/raw-oreos.html. Accessed September 19, 2016.

5. Maven D. Raw Oreo Cookies – The Healthy Maven. The Healthy Maven. 2013. Available at: http://www.thehealthymaven.com/2013/06/raw-oreo-cookies.html. Accessed September 19, 2016.

6. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fScZqTmqwBM/TCGC8Dza_iI/AAAAAAAAAQs/EX0cfNNNjuU/s1600/DSCN1693.JPG