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These oatmeal cookies are everything you want — chewy, warmly spiced, loaded with raisins — and they happen to skip the butter and egg yolks entirely. Avocado oil, applesauce, and heart-healthy oats do all the work here. Made them when I needed a sweet fix without undoing everything I’d been doing for my cholesterol, and they’ve been in regular rotation ever since.
Why You’ll Love These
- They taste like a real cookie — chewy in the middle, crisp at the edge, with that warm cinnamon smell filling up the whole kitchen
- No butter, no yolks — made with avocado oil and applesauce without sacrificing texture or flavor
- Heart-smart ingredients — oats and avocado oil are both known to support healthy cholesterol levels
- Easy, forgiving dough — simple to make, easy to customize, and it keeps well in the fridge overnight
- Nobody will guess they’re lighter — they’re that good
A Few Notes on the Ingredients
The avocado oil is non-negotiable for me — it’s got a mild flavor, almost buttery in a way that works really well here. I’ve tried these with olive oil (fine, slightly grassy), and I know some people use coconut oil, but I haven’t gone that route. The avocado oil is what makes them taste rich without being rich, if that makes sense.
The applesauce replaces half the oil you’d typically use, and you genuinely can’t tell. Use unsweetened. I made the mistake of grabbing a single-serve cup that was “lightly sweetened” once and the cookies came out weirdly sweet in a flat sort of way. Unsweetened gives you control.
Egg whites only. If you’re trying to manage cholesterol, you already know about the yolk situation, but if you’re just making these because they sound good — same deal. Two egg whites do everything you need them to do here.
Old-fashioned oats, not instant. This isn’t a hill I’d normally die on but in this case the texture is noticeably better.
Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed — I always pack it)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2/3 cup raisins (about — I tend to add a handful more)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
How I Make Them
Start with a big bowl — bigger than you think you need, because the oats bulk this up fast. Beat the egg whites and oil together with the salt and both sugars. Don’t worry about being precise with the beating; you’re not making a meringue. Just get it combined and looking a little creamy.
Add the applesauce, raisins, vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir it around. At this point it smells incredible and I always taste a little of the dough, which I know you’re not supposed to do, but there are no egg yolks and I’ve been doing it for years without incident.
Stir in the oats. Then the flour — add it and mix until it’s just incorporated. Overmixing makes cookies tough and nobody wants that.
Here’s the part I almost skipped the first time: chill the dough. Covered, in the fridge, for at least an hour. Longer is fine — I’ve left it overnight and it was perfectly happy. Don’t skip this. The cookies spread less, hold their shape better, and the texture is noticeably chewier. I learned this the hard way the first time I made them, rushed it because I wanted cookies immediately, and ended up with sad flat discs that were still good but not what I wanted.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat to 375°F — 350°F if you’ve got a convection oven. Roll the dough into balls about an inch and a half across. Twelve to a sheet, they need a little room. Thirteen minutes, give or take depending on your oven. Mine runs hot, so I check at eleven.
Pull them out and let them sit on the sheet for a minute before you move them — they’re fragile right out of the oven. Then spatula them onto a rack and try to let them cool completely. I make it about four minutes before I eat one. Every time.
Variations
Mini chocolate chips work well here — about half a cup stirred in if you want to go that route. Chopped walnuts are another great addition, maybe half a cup, and they’re also supposed to be good for cholesterol so it feels like a bonus. Dried cranberries in place of the raisins would probably be great too, and dried cherries might be even better, actually.
Storage
Airtight container on the counter, they’ll last about four or five days. Though I’ve never actually had them make it past day three in my house, so I’m going on faith with that estimate. They freeze beautifully — I put them in a zip bag and they thaw in about fifteen minutes at room temperature.
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Toffee Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites large
- 3/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup applesauce unsweetened
- 2/3 cup raisins
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat egg whites, avocado oil, salt, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined.
- Add applesauce, raisins, vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.
- Mix in oats, then add flour and stir until just incorporated.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (350°F for convection).
- Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a baking sheet, spaced apart.
- Bake for 11–13 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
- Let cookies rest briefly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool.