These coconut macadamia nut cookies are a healthy alternative to shop-bought cookies, but definitely don't lack that moreish quality! Made with pantry staples, such as oatmeal and nuts, they are a quick and easy mid-afternoon treat. Vegetarian, gluten-free and low histamine.
Sunday afternoons are meant for a cosy time of cookies and movies in my home. If you love an easy to make cookie as much as my family does then you may like to see my blueberry thumbprint cookies and cardamom oatmeal cookies. Both so tasty!
These coconut macadamia nut cookies are always popular here on the blog and my family definitely don't turn them down either! Coconut and macadamia nuts both have a delicious creamy taste, and go so well with the sweet honey.
Looking for even more snacks (because who can resist right?!), do check out my 25 best snacks post for all things donuts, popcorn, dips, crackers and even more cookies!
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⭐ Why these cookies are so good
- Healthy(ish!): made without any preservatives, these cookies are far more healthy than store-bought ones.
- Quick and easy recipes: super simple, and they come together in around half an hour.
- Best flavour: the creamy macadamia nuts go so well with the also creamy coconut!
🍪 Ingredients
These coconut macadamia nut cookies are made with pantry staples, or ones that are in my home anyway!
- Oats - on every shopping order for me, for porridge, cookies or, as I am going to test out soon, as a pizza base. Use gluten-free ones, such as the Bob's Red Mill gluten free rolled oats, if you have that dietary requirement.
- Macadamia nuts - as a note for my low histamine readers, these score as 0 on the SIGHI list. Be sure to get ones that aren't roasted or salted.
- Desiccated coconut - gives a lovely creamy flavour.
- Almond butter - for lots of flavour and to act as a binder too. I love Pip and Nut almond butter.
- Honey - for the sweetness. I tend to use Rowse honey. If you are vegan it should work fine with maple syrup too.
- Flax meal - this acts as a binder in place of egg. Simply combine with water for your egg substitute.
📖 Variations to the recipe
If almond butter isn't suitable for you, then another nut or seed butter such as pumpkin seed or macadamia nut butter should work well.
Make sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients and their quantities!
Step by step instructions
Making these coconut macadamia nut cookies is very simple, with just a few steps:
- Make the flax egg by combining the flax meal and water and stirring well. Set aside for ten minutes.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl. Once the flax egg is ready, add to the bowl along with the honey and almond butter. Stir very thoroughly.
- Wet your hands and then use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop out enough 'dough' for the cookie. Roll between your hands and then place on the baking tray. Pat down to form a cookie shape. Repeat to get 9-10 small cookies.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Check after 8 minutes for any signs of burning. They will still be quite moist, so transfer (carefully!) to a wire baking rack to cool. Then enjoy!
💭 Recipe tips and notes
It is better to have the cookies a fairly similar size so that they cook evenly. You can either try and form balls the same size with your hands, or use a cookie scoop to be more precise.
Be sure to keep an eye on them after eight minutes of baking. They usually take 10-12 minutes, but can turn quickly and a burnt inedible cookie is a very sad thing!
🥣 How to make oat flour
Don't be fooled into thinking you need to buy oat flour. It will be overpriced and is totally unnecessary. Oat flour is purely oats blended to a flour-like texture. I always use my Nutribullet to pulse blend oats to that texture. It takes seconds to do.
🍪 More fun cookies
Enjoy some of my most popular cookies recipes for your afternoon treat, including my popular honey spelt cookies and my cardamom spice oatmeal cookies! Some recent recipes to enjoy:
For more fun recipes, and some tiger nut cookies, my low histamine sweet treats ebook has exclusive recipes to satisfy any sweet tooth!
I'm always in the kitchen, so come and join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes. And please do leave a star rating if you tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup oats gf if required
- ⅛ cup oat flour (blend oats in a food processor)
- ¼ cup macadamia nuts pulse blended to chop
- 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- ¼ cup almond butter
- pinch salt
for the flax egg
- 1 tablespoon milled flaxseed
- 3 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Make the flax egg by combining the flax meal and water and stirring well. Set aside for ten minutes.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl. Once the flax egg is ready, add to the bowl along with the honey and almond butter. Stir very thoroughly.
- Wet your hands and then use a cookie scoop or spoon to scoop out enough 'dough' for the cookie. Roll between your hands and then place on the baking tray. Pat down to form a cookie shape. Repeat to get 9-10 small cookies.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Check after 8 minutes for any signs of burning. They will still be quite moist, so transfer (carefully!) to a wire baking rack to cool. Then enjoy!
Notes
- To make oat flour, simply blend oats in a Nutribullet or food processor.
- I haven't tried it myself, but I suggest that pumpkin seed butter is a good swap for almond butter if you prefer to be nut free.
- Again, I haven't tried it myself, but you can easily swap honey for maple syrup to make it a vegan recipe.
- Please note that nutritional information is offered as a courtesy. It is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- almonds (for the almond butter), which score 1.
- honey, scores 0 but with a note stating 'To be debated. Uneven. Naturally contains benzoic acid'
- flax isn't mentioned on the SIGHI list.
Crystal says
What brand of almond butter do you use? There are so many, with varying consistencies.
Claire says
I tend to use either Meridian or Pip and Nut for almond butter. Hope you like the cookies!
Matthew Justin says
These look sooooo delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I'm definitely going to make these over the long weekend.
throughthefibrofog says
Really hope you like them!
Amanda says
These were such a heavenly treat! I just made them to celebrate the completion of a candida cleanse program (no oats or maple syrup allowed). They remind me of a granola bar. I really enjoyed them.
throughthefibrofog says
So glad you enjoyed them Amanda!
Eilidh says
These are fab... tasty and easy to throw together! I have failed so many times with gluten free baking, and I'm not a big fan of shop bought ones, I'd almost resigned myself to a life without biscuits. So glad you created this recipe, can you imagine what a sad life that would be!
throughthefibrofog says
Hi Eilidh, so glad you like the cookies! And gosh, yes, a life without biscuits - not sure if I could handle that 🙂 So glad you like them, and thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment, much appreciated.
Sheryl Chan says
All my favourites in a bite! I love how you make recipes for people with MCAS that are so delicious!
throughthefibrofog says
Thanks Sheryl!
Carrie Kellenberger says
These sound wonderful! Taiwan is such a challenge at times. Cookies here are truly terrible and most homes do not have ovens! We bought a convection oven and it handles things in a pinch, but it's not like baking back home. Nevertheless, I've pinned and saved and will give it a try!
Pain Reaction says
I'm definitely going to have to try making these for my husband. He has Celiac Disease and I've been really into baking again lately so I guarantee he would love these! The more gluten free recipes I can find the better!
throughthefibrofog says
I'm into baking lately too, all the treats at the moment! Hope you and your husband like the cookies, so easy to make gf with the right oats.
Katie Clark says
I love how you explain making oat flour. I recently got a nutribullet. Very handy. These cookies look like a new favorite; I love all the ingredients. I will definitely be giving these a try soon!
throughthefibrofog says
Really hope you like them Katie! And I'm glad you find the nutribullet so helpful, I use mine so often for all kinds of cooking tasks.