This recipe was inspired by a funny stevia commercial (link at the bottom if you’re in the mood for a laugh). And while I could call these sugar-free oatmeal cookies, the raisins and molasses contain natural sugar, so they’re almost sugar-free. There’s no added table sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or anything of the sort. The sweetness comes from your choice of Swerve, Lakanto Gold, Monk Fruit, Allulose or whatever sweetener you like!
Alternative Sweeteners
No-Sugar Oatmeal Cookies are a reboot of a recipe from my archives that came from the back of a bag of a now-extinct product called Stevia Sun Crystals. Since Sun Crystals are no more, I reworked the recipe using other alternative sweeteners including Swerve, Lakanto Golden Monk Fruit in the Raw. They all worked beautifully! After trying those sweeteners, I just had to test allulose. As expected, allulose sweetened cookies tasted the best but had a softer texture.
An Easy One Bowl Recipe
The recipe is very easy. Everything comes together in one bowl, starting with very soft butter, your sweetener of choice, a little molasses and some cinnamon. Add an egg, followed by vanilla, then mix in the baking soda, salt and spices. Flour, oats, raisins and nuts go in last. You can then scoop and bake, or scoop dough, cover and chill and bake as needed. With all of the testing, I now have a freezer of full of sugar-free oatmeal cookie dough.
Splenda Stevia & Magic Baker
Here's the link to the funny stevia commercial. It's for a stevia product made by Splenda. Splenda is traditionally associated with sucralose, but they’ve expanded into stevia and other sweetening blends. In fact, my favorite baking sweetener of all time is Splenda’s Magic Baker blend. I didn’t have any to test with this recipe, but I’m confident it would work perfectly here.
No Sugar Oatmeal Cookies Baking Notes
So back to the cookies. Hopefully the recipe will work for everyone, but if not just let me know and we can make adjustments. Here are my notes so far.
- Butter -- I've been testing with unsalted butter. If you use salted butter you can reduce the salt substantially. I also tested with a stick of Country Crock. If using Country Crock, also reduce the salt to ⅛ teaspoon.
- Sweetener -- I went with as little sweetener as possible since the raisins and molasses add sweetness. If using straight allulose, you'll need to use 1 ⅓ times the amount, so a little over 160 grams rather than 125.
- Flour -- I tested with King Arthur flour. The protein in King Arthur helps the cookie dough hold its shape. The longer it sits, the more moisture is absorbed by the flour and oats, so if you plan on refrigerating the dough, I recommend scooping out portions and flattening slightly before chilling. If going straight from bowl to oven, you can just scoop and bake.
- Raisins -- The raisins add some natural sugar. If you need to leave them out, increase the amount of alternative sweetener by ½ tablespoon. And of course you can substitute cranberries or any other dried fruit.
Variations
There are tons of variations you can try! I made one batch with dried cranberries and maple extract (Olive Nation) and they were excellent. Chocolate chips worked well, too. If you want to lower the carbs even more, try them with Victoria's Kitchen keto flour.
Recipe
Almost Sugar-Free Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- ⅔ cup Swerve Granular, Lakanto Gold Erythritol Monk Fruit or Monk Fruit in the Raw (125 grams)
- ½ tablespoon molasses (10 grams)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or you can use ½ maple)
- ⅜ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅜ teaspoon salt ( reduce to ⅛ if using salted butter)
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (80 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats (110 grams)
- ⅓ cup raisins (use more or less to taste)
- ⅓ cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Beat together the softened butter, sweetener, molasses and cinnamon until creamy and smooth.
- Add the egg and beat until blended, then add the vanilla.
- Add the salt and baking soda directly to the batter, then stir until blended. Add flour and stir until blended. Add oats and stir until blended, then add the raisins and nuts.
- Using a medium size scoop or a heaping tablespoon, scoop balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet or onto a dinner plate if you'd like to chill the dough.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes or until the cookies appear golden. You can also try baking at 375 if you want darker edges, but 350 is always a safe bet.
Anna says
Sue, it's really interesting how people perceive different sweeteners. You may like monk fruit blended with something else. I'd recommend trying Magic Baker which is a good blend. You also have to figure out if you handle the side effects, especially with allulose. There have been some interesting studies on it as of late.
Sue K says
This post makes me interested in trying to bake with an alternative sweetener. I’ve been very resistant to this for a long time. I really dislike monk fruit so if I try the recipe I’ll try one of the other options.