Satisfy your cookie cravings with these quick and easy no-bake oatmeal raisin cookie dough bites! Soft, chewy, and made with good-for-you ingredients, these naturally gluten-free and vegan bites make a healthy and delicious snack for any time of the day.
So my microwave bit the dust a few weeks ago.
Actually, it may very well have bit the dust long before that (the last time I really used it was when I made this oatmeal cookie dough mug cake back in June), but I only noticed a few weeks ago when temperatures dropped and I tried to nuke my microwavable bean bag bear before I crawled into bed for the night. I’m no expert in microwaves, but I’m pretty sure there are some lights and spinning actions involved, and besides the timer doing its thing, there was nothing else going on with mine.
Bummer. It was hoodies and fuzzy socks to bed that night. And a few nights since then.
But Amanda, you’re saying… what do microwaves have to do with no-bake bites?
Absolutely nothing, other than the fact that not having a microwave reminds me of my childhood in the same way that oatmeal raisin cookies do.
See, I grew up with a really health conscious mom who wasn’t keen on the idea of nuking food, just like she wasn’t keen on the idea of store-bought snacks. That meant that I didn’t have a microwave until I moved out and that the majority of the treats I grew up on were homemade… with the most popular ones being oatmeal raisin cookies.
I loved those dang cookies, even though I didn’t care for raisins. And when I say “didn’t care for,” what I really mean is that I’d do my best to eat around them, make a scene if I accidentally bit into one, and relentlessly pester my mom until she gave in and swapped the raisins for chocolate chips the next time around… which only happened occasionally.
Fast forward a few a good handful of years, and I’d actually go as far as to say that I prefer oatmeal raisin cookies to oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. That’s not to say that oatmeal chocolate chip don’t make me weak in the knees, but there’s something about the chewy sweetness of raisins that I think pairs perfectly with oats… which is why I had to combine the two to make some no bake oatmeal raisin cookie dough bites…
I.love.these.dang.things.
They’re soft, they’re chewy, they’re easy to make, and they’re packed with good-for-you ingredients. I blended half of the raisins into the actual dough, which I thought gave a better flavour and texture than simply adding all of them in whole. They’re naturally gluten-free (as long as you use certified GF oats) and vegan, and can easily be made nut-free with a few simple substitutions.
So if you love oatmeal raisin cookies as much as I do, then I definitely recommend whipping up a batch of these bites! And if you’re on team oatmeal chocolate chip, then just sub out half the raisins with chocolate chips, and voila!
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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No-Bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Bites
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 10 – 12 bites 1x
Ingredients
- 3 large Medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 cup raisins, divided
- 2 Tbsp. brown rice syrup*
- 2 Tbsp. nut/seed butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 Tbsp. coconut flour
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
Instructions
- Into the bowl of a food processor or high-speed blender, add dates, 1/4 cup raisins, brown rice syrup, nut butter, and vanilla extract, processing until dates and raisins have broken down into smaller pieces and ingredients are well combined.
- Add coconut flour and cinnamon, continuing to process until ingredients are well combined and the mixture sticks together easily. Fold in oats and remaining 1/4 cup of raisins and mix by hand until well incorporated.
- Using a heaping tablespoon, roll dough between your hands and form into balls. Set aside on a plate and repeat with remaining dough. Store balls in an airtight container in the fridge for best results, or freeze for longer periods of time.
Notes
* You can sub this with any liquid sweetener.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
Looking for more healthy no-bake recipes? Try one of these!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
No Bake Carrot Cake Energy Bites
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Bites
No Bake Brownie Batter Truffles
No Bake Protein Brownie Cups
A microwave… I guess I never really thought of live without one- It is convenient but out of all cooking methods, it’s the least tasty lol.
you know i pinned these. Love the nourishment combined with the little chocolate bits. YES! the sparks in the microwave … I do not like. EEK! be careful.
Our mums definitely sound similar. Did you wear homesewn carnival costumes and were the one child without juice packets in kindergarten, too 😉 ? I actually love my mum for instilling many healthy habits and taste preferences in me. After a slightly ‘rebellious’ teenage phase I’m more of a health nut than her these days.
Raisins and me – it’s a difficult relationship. But these bites sound quite delicious nonetheles. Maybe today’s a raisin-likey day.
It’s the same with me! I definitely went through a bit of a rebellious phase when I was younger (and ate nothing but KD and McD’s), but now I probably pay more attention to health than she does.
I think I could probably LIVE off of these things! I’m actually one of those weirdos that likes the raisins in oatmeal cookies, though I have to say, I don’t blame ya for wanting chocolate chips when you were younger. #teamchoco
I LOVE no bake stuff – my oven broke recently so raw and no bake saved the day! As for which is best I would say I am happy with both raisin and chocolate – not fussy I just love cookie dough!!!
Oh goodness and here I was thinking that only my mom was the health nut who refused to keep a microwave at home. For the sake of radiation she never allowed us to keep one at home- you can only imagine my exasperation when mug cakes blew up in the blog world haha! While I appreciate the sentiment, I can only imagine how much convenient microwaves make life! Love the look of these balls- definitely something I can get down with! Tough call between oatmeal raisin & oatmeal choc chip cookies–> so long as it’s an oatmeal cookie, I will take it- no questions asked!
I do actually use the microwave quite a lot – heating up leftovers for lunch, cooking sweet potatoes, the occasional bowl of oats and I heat up my bean bag in there too (although I cant imagine I will be doing a lot of that in Australia!). I could live without one but wouldn’t like to as it sure makes life easier!
Oat and raisin all the way – its such a good combo with those juicy nuggets that give such a good sweetness in each bite – but cinnamon has to be in there too!
My brother grew up hating, and still does hate, raisins – he wont touch anything with them in it! Weirdo…. 😛
Haha! That was actually me when I was younger, and there are still some things I can’t stand raisins in. Like cheesecakes 😯
I think I’m on team oatmeal raisin. It’s a tough decision though because I love chocolate chips in almost everything. But I think with this recipe, I’d stick with the raisins…they look perfect just the way they are!
I love the microwave! It’s so convenient. I think I prefer oatmeal scotchies the best. It is a butterscotch cookie with butterscotch chips. That says childhood to me 🙂
I remember eating handfuls and handfuls of butterscotch chips when I was a kid. So good.
Oatmeal cookie dough is my favorite type of cookie dough…. I can’t let myself make it because I’ll eat the whole batch! At least this way it is healthier for me!!!
The only thing that keeps me from eating ALL the dough is the eggs in it, but if the cookies are vegan? Whoaaaa watch out.
Thank you for offering nut free suggestions! I have 3 kiddos with nut allergies, so I love finding recipes for homemade treats with nut free alternatives.
I don’t have coconut flour but I need to make these so I think I’ll just try oat flour this time around. Thank you for the recipe!
I hope you and your kids like them, Linda! Have you ever tried roasted soy nut butter? It’s one of my favourite nut-free butters!
My daughter really liked them. She said they tasted very “date-y”. ha. I bought the wild friends maple sunbutter, and it’s been working well in a lot of our recipes. I have had soy butter but haven’t thought to use it in baking! I’ll have to try that next. Thanks for the recipes! I am also loving your no bake granola bars with the brown rice syrup and pumpkin seeds. I’ve made quite a few batches. Oink 🙂
/Your mom sounds very much like my mom! I don’t think we had a microwave growing up (small kitchen and pretty poor) but I’m sure my mom wouldn’t have let us use it anyway! This recipe would have been right up my alley as a kid though! I loved the raisins, even as a small kid. My mom made all of our snacks when I was growing up, not sure how she had the time, but there really is nothing like homemade!! Love this recipe, pinning!
Moms are magical and so is there food. It’s all the extra love in there.
I always get disappointed when I bite into a cookie and realize I got raisins instead of chocolate chips. Unless they’re oatmeal cookies, of course, but that’s the ONLY time they get a pass!
Hehe that was me when I was younger. Especially when my mom used to do half raisins and half chocolate chips… It became an even bigger pain trying to avoid the raisins.
I am not a fan of raisins, but I can make an exception for these! 🙂
You can always go the chocolate chip route 😀
oatmeal raisin by a loooong shot! these look amazing.
Thanks Shawna!
Brown sugar was mentioned at the bottom of the recipe but I don’t see it in the ingredient list .
Sorry Erin! I did make a batch with brown sugar but decided I liked the version without it better. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I will have to try this out! I think I prefer raisins in these types of things because I don’t have to worry about them melting and I get more fruit in for the day.
Hope you like them if you try them, Kate!
We actually didn’t have a microwave for a few years. I didn’t really miss it, but someone gave us one when they moved. I guess it’s nice for a few things.
I love both oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip. It kinda depends on my mood. These little bites I could love anytime though! <3
I mostly used mine to melt coconut oil and chocolate chips — definitely takes a little longer doing it the old fashioned way!
i think oatmeal raisin is better than chocolate chip too! Raisins are just so plump and delicious!
Totally agree!
This is really creepy; I feel like my favorite bloggers are all tapping into my brain! How did you know that I was craving something cookie dough flavored and was heading to your site for a recipe before reading your daily post, only to see you must’ve been reading my mind?!?! Being a die-hard chocoholic, I usually prefer evvveeeryything chocolate, but I’ve noticed that there are sometimes when I just want this classic oatmeal raisin pairing. There’s just something about it that’s so satisfying and so perfect comfort food.
I think oatmeal raisin cookies would be one of my comfort desserts as well. And there must be something in the water because I’ve been craving cookie dough myself 😛
We used to have three microwaves, but then one (the one that is built in, of course) decided to stop working. Ours still spins, all lights come on, and the timer counts down, but it does no heating! One of the other ones is upstairs near the bedrooms for the sole purpose of cozy warming, and we make do with our backup microwave for now. It makes leftover night with six people a bit frustrating sometimes, though!
I like both! But chocolate > raisins, I think. They are different, and for sure if they were both baked, I would choose chocolate chips. But no bake is another world, and I think they are a lot closer in that world… These look so good! I know I’m going to have to make them soon!
Oooo good call with noting the diff between bake and no-bake. I do love me a melty chocolate chip… even if they’re painful as heck when they first come out of the oven.
All about that oatmeal chocolate chip… I just dont like raisins even though I know they’re natures candy! Haha. And I am loving no bake recipes recently… so simple and easy!
Can we compromise and say oatmeal chocolate chip raisin? 😛
You read my mind! I’ve been looking for easy no-bake treats since it’s like a billion degrees here in FL and I refuse to turn on my oven, even for a cookie. 😛 Can’t wait to make these!
I’d love to know how you like them, Lindsay!
I think blending half the raisins directly into the dough was a brilliant idea. You are a genius. It doesn’t hurt I adore the oatmeal raisin combo too, even better than chocolate chip. Shh, don’t tell anyone.
I won’t tell if you promise me that we can start an underground oatmeal raisin lovers club. We can bring cookies and milk to all our meetings.
Oh my word these sound so great! Can’t go wrong with oatmeal cookies! Such a classic, nostalgic flavor.
Definitely! Probably my idea of comfort food in dessert form.
I would eat every one of those in one sitting 🙂
Not gonna lie — I was totally tempted to do it as well.
You know, I probably should be more sympathetic to your lack of microwave, but considering Ive been living with a mini-fridge as a refridgerator for the past week and a half, I think I’ve got you beat. 😉 Though it is still 90 degrees here, so the lack of warm bean bag before bed does sound like a bummer! Oh the things we take for granted, huh?
Even still, these bites sound soooo delicious! Oatmeal combined with anything pretty much makes my heart sing.
What aboutttt… oatmeal and ketchup? Because I’ve actually done that with savoury oats before and it was fantastical.
Oatmeal raisin cookies – in bite form!? Heck yeah – wonder how many of these I could stuff in my mouth at once?
I’m gonna go with abouttttt… 3.
nooo! you need a microwave!! i kid you not, every time i use a microwave at work or at home, i think about how grateful i am that they exist!! hahaha. i guess these cookie dough bites are a pretty good consolation
Haha! I guess I’m just used to getting by without one since I grew up without one. And I actually prefer my food cold or room temp, so I don’t really look to it to reheat things.
These look absolutely amazing! I have yet to try energy bites and I don’t know why since I have all the ingredients!! Well…except the coconut flour! I need to get that 🙂 I absolutely love oatmeal cookies they are perfect for fall and are perfect without chocolate chips! Raisins are already sweet they don’t need that extra sweetness :)!! I have already looked at all your other bites so I’m definitely going to have to try some of them 🙂
XO,
Kat
Definitely try some! I promise you’ll fall in love.
Oatmeal raisin for me! We love our cookie dough bites over here and I always want to put raisins in them. I do use my microwave often for reheating things, like my coffee 6 times before I finish it 🙂
I might be tempted to do that as well if I didn’t have a thing for lukewarm coffee 😉
How about oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies as a favorite?! I am famous for mine. So delicious, they are the cookie that started my little cookie business a few years ago (which I think you knew but I am telling you again anyway lol). And I love chocolate covered raisins. I like to add them to cookies when I have them in the house.
I like the way you think 😉 A combo of both is actually my favourite as well, and I seriously can’t control myself around chocolate covered raisins. So.good.
These look so delicious, Amanda! I’ve got some extra dates on hand from making some homemade larabars so I might have to give this a try!
Thanks Liz! Hope you like them if you make them!