4 Ingredient Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies (No Flour, Eggs, Refined Sugar, Dairy or Butter)
These oatmeal thumbprint cookies have a soft base and are filled with a chocolate center. The cookies need just 4 ingredients and don’t require any flour, eggs, refined sugar, dairy or butter. The cookies can be made ahead of time and can be customized.
These healthier thumbprint cookies take only a few minutes to prepare and you can customize the filling and the sweetness level.
Ingredients
- Quick oats
- Bananas
- Coconut oil
- Dark chocolate chips
Quick oats: Quick oats are oats than have been broken down into smaller and thinner pieces. This recipe works best with quick oats rather than rolled oats because quick oats bind better. If you only have rolled oats on hand, you can add them to a food processor and pulse them a few times until they become the size of quick oats.
Bananas: This recipe works best with very ripe bananas. Very ripe bananas have more moisture and are sweeter.
Coconut oil: A little coconut oil is added to the cookie base. You can also add some coconut oil to the chocolate for a softer chocolate center.
Dark chocolate chips: The dark chocolate chips are melted until smooth and used to fill the thumbprint cookie center. If you need the cookies to be dairy-free, make sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips. If you need the cookies to be refined sugar free, make sure to use chocolate sweetened with unrefined sugar.
How to Make Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies
- The quick oats, mashed bananas and coconut oil are mixed together until evenly combined.
- Scoop the mixture using a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop. Use the back of a teaspoon to press a deep well into the center of each cookie dough. Use your fingers or the back of a metal spoon to shape, smooth and round the edges of the cookies.
- Bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes or until they are lightly golden and done.
- Allow the cookies to cool.
- Melt the chocolate until smooth. Fill the cooled cookies with the melted chocolate. You can either spoon it in or transfer the chocolate to a piping bag to fill in the cookies.
Expert Tips
- If your bananas are not that sweet, you can add a little maple syrup to sweeten the dough further.
- Adding coconut oil helps the cookies stay soft and moist. If you bake the cookies a little longer, it will also crisp up the surface of the cookies slightly.
- You can fill the thumbprint cookies with other types of melted chocolate or jam.
More Oatmeal Recipes
- 4 Ingredient Lemon Oatmeal Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Coconut Oatmeal Bars
- 4 Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Bars
4 Ingredient Thumbprint Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (88g) quick oats
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (156g) well mashed very ripe bananas, of more if needed, see note
- 2 tbsp (30ml) melted coconut oil
- 1 cup (148g) dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add quick oats, mashed bananas and oil to a large bowl and mix until the oats are evenly covered. The mixture should be thick and moist but should be shapeable and hold its form. You can add more mashed bananas if your mixture is too dry or not holding its form. You can also taste and if you prefer sweeter, you can add 1-2 tbsp maple syrup.
- Use a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop the dough. Release on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Lightly wet the back of a teaspoon and press a deep well into the center of each cookie (the hole should be the size of the full back of the teaspoon). Lightly wet your fingers or the back of a metal spoon and smooth, shape and round the edges of the cookies to form a classic thumbprint shape.
- Bake for about 15-25 minutes, or until the edges and surface are lightly golden brown and the cookies no longer look wet. Baking time can vary a lot depending on how much moisture is in the bananas you are using.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheet and set. When cookies are almost finished cooling, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spatula, until completely smooth. If you prefer a softer chocolate center, you can stir in 2 tsp of coconut oil to the melted chocolate.
- After cookies are set, spoon chocolate filling into each indent. You do not need to use the full amount of chocolate. You can also transfer the chocolate to a piping bag and pipe the filling in.
- Let the chocolate cool and firm up. You can do this at room temperature or briefly put them into the fridge to help speed up the process. The cookies are then ready to eat. Store any uneaten cookies in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
- Mashed bananas note: Try to finely mash the bananas so there are no visible large chunks remaining. I like using a potato masher to mash them.
- Chocolate chips note: You can use any type of chocolate chips. I like using dark bittersweet chocolate chips. If you need the cookies to be dairy-free, make sure to choose dairy-free chocolate chips. If you need these to be refined sugar-free, make sure to use chocolate sweetened with unrefined sugar such as coconut sugar, maple sugar, date sugar, or a sugar substitute. I like using Hu dark chocolate chips.*
- I used Amazon Grocery Quick Oats.*
- *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- Estimated nutrition assumes all of the chocolate is used but you will likely have some leftover.