These healthy lemon flavored oatmeal cookies are light and crispy. The cookies are easy to make and only need 4 ingredients. The cookies also only take a few minutes to prepare. The cookies store well and can be eaten for breakfast, snack or dessert.
a stack of lemon cookies.

These crispy lemon cookies are the perfect balance of bright, tart and sweet. They are also light and crispy. Now that spring is almost here and we’re getting more hours of daylight, I’ve been in the mood for some lighter and brighter flavors.

Ingredients

  • Rolled Oats
  • Lemon
  • Maple Syrup
  • Cashew butter (or peanut butter)

Rolled oats: The cookies are made with rolled oats which are also known as old fashioned oats. The oats are run through the food processor for several seconds so that they become smaller and finer. This allows them to crisp up.

Lemon: Fresh lemon juice and zest are used to give these cookies their bright and tart lemon flavor.

Maple syrup: Maple syrup is used to sweeten the cookies. Maple syrup is also used to thicken the dough. When it interacts with the natural nut butter, it causes the nut butter to thicken to a cookie dough consistency.

Cashew or peanut butter: These cookies work best with cashew butter but you can also use peanut butter. Cashew butter has a very mild flavor and when it is mixed with the lemon juice, you don’t really taste the cashew at all so they just taste like lemon oatmeal cookies. However if you don’t have cashew butter, you can make these with peanut butter. The cookies will have a little bit of peanut butter flavor but you will also still taste the lemon. Whichever one you choose, make sure to use natural cashew butter or natural peanut butter. This is cashew/peanut butter that doesn’t contain any added oils. Peanut butter or cashew butter with added oils will not work for this recipe.

How to Make Crispy Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

The rolled oats are first processed in a food processor until they become partial oat flour and partial small pieces of oats.
a spoonful of ground oats.
They are then mixed together with the cashew butter and maple syrup until a thick dough forms. Finally, the lemon juice and zest are stirred in.
cookies dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with a baking mat.
The cookie dough is scooped out using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. The dough balls are then flattened to thick round disks. You want the cookies to be quite thin because the thinner they are, the crispier they will be. If desired, you can garnish the surface of the cookies will a little more lemon zest before placing them into the oven to bake.
the flattened cookies ready to be baked.

Cookie Texture and Sweetness

The cookies have a light crispy texture. They are lightly sweetened, just enough to balance the tartness of the lemon juice. They are not meant to be super sweet cookies. They are more like biscuit cookies.
a stack of nine cookies.

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4 Ingredient Crispy Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

These healthy lemon oatmeal cookies are light and crispy. They are just 4 ingredients and don't contain any flour, eggs, butter or refined sugar.
Servings: 13 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 23 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (68 g) rolled oats
  • 6 tbsp (96 g) unsweetened natural cashew butter, or natural peanut butter
  • 3 1/2 tbsp (52 ml) pure maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice + 1 heaping tsp lemon zest

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
  • Add rolled oats to a food processor. Pulse oats until they become very small and fine and start to partially become flour consistency. See photo in post for reference. I pulsed mine on high for about 50-60 seconds. If you are unsure if your oats are fine enough, it's better to pulse them a little longer. The smaller they are, the crispier the cookies will be.
  • Add oats, cashew butter and maple syrup to a large mixing bowl. Make sure you scrape the food processor and get all of the oat powder that sticks to the sides into your bowl. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are fully and evenly incorporated and the dough thickens to the consistency of cookie dough.
  • Stir in lemon juice and zest until fully incorporated. Taste, and if desired, you can add 1/2 to 1 more tbsp of syrup if you feel the dough is not sweet enough.
  • Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing the dough balls about 2 inches apart. Use your palm or the back of a metal spoon to flatten the dough balls into round disks. You want the cookies to be fairly thin, between 3/16 inch to 1/4 inch thick. The thinner the cookies are, the crispier they will be. The cookies do not spread much during baking, so shape them as you want the final outcome to be. I usually flatten the cookies first with my palm and then smooth around the edges with the back of a spoon to make the cookies round. If your dough is too sticky, you can wet the spoon before using it to flatten and shape. If desired you can sprinkle some additional lemon zest on top of each cookie.
  • Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes or until the surface looks done and the edges start to turn a light brown. Let cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before removing them. They will crisp up further as they cool. Uneaten cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or can be stored in the freezer for longer.

Notes

  • Make sure to use natural cashew butter or natural peanut butter. 
  • This recipe works best with pure maple syrup. I don't recommend honey.
  • The cookies are not super sweet. They are lightly sweetened, like a biscuit-type cookie.
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 76kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 0.01mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 4g, NET CARBS: 8
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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