These low calorie cookies have NO sugar, NO white flour, and only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch! What they do have are a ton of mix-ins. Oatmeal, coconut, bran flakes, pecans to name a few. They taste like a Texas Cowboy Cookie, but way better for you! (Which means I can eat half a batch…right?)

I finally feel like life is getting back to normal after all the Christmas festivities! Charlotte started school again today so we are back to having a schedule. Well. At least someone in the family has a schedule. Certainly 2-month-old Valentine doesn’t. She’s like a tiny 9-pound princess who forces me to bend to her every beck and call, or whimper and cry as the case may be. She’s started smiling at me regularly though, which is basically payment in full for my slave labor.

Low Calorie Cookies

(Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post about breastfeeding troubles by the way, they warmed my heart and made things a little easier for me. Moral support! It’s legit!)

Kind of like how I always make Eric hover nearby while I give the baby a bath. The way our bathroom is situated it’s pretty much a one man job, but I make him come in just to be present in case she freaks out. There is something about screaming wet babies that makes you panic a little bit.

Speaking of panicking. I had a friend of mine (hi Melissa!) watch the kids today while I went to the dentist. That sounds like such a casual statement, but I was freaking out . No, not because I was away from my kids, but worrying about poor Melissa. It’s hard enough dumping 2 kids on someone else, but 2 kids plus an infant?? I think I owe somebody a batch of these cookies.

Ingredients for healthy low calorie cookies

Rolling healthy oatmeal cookies no flour

Rolled healthy cowboy cookies

I can’t tell you how much I love these Skinny Texas Cowboy cookies! I made them once, loved them, then made them again a day later with a few tweaks and loved them even more. (Yeah, good luck with this “skinny” recipe if you are into eating entire batches of cookies a day at a time.)Low Calorie Cookies - Skinny Texas Cowboy

The recipe is a mashup between these Skinny Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and these Texas Cowboy Cookies. Both of these recipes made it in the Top 5 Recipes published on The Food Charlatan in 2016. I loved them both so much (and so did you!) I decided to put them together. I think it’s officially my best idea of 2017 so far.

Healthy Cookies No Sugar

These cookies have the same flavor as the classic Texas Cowboy Cookie but have a different texture. I like it. I’m usually more of a soft-cookie girl anyway, and the original recipe is crunchy on the outside. This skinny version is soft and tender, and feels decadent from the chocolate and peanut butter chips, but is way lower in calories. Plus it’s super easy; no electric mixing or creaming involved. Just a couple bowls and a spoon.

Skinny Texas Cowboy Cookies from The Food Charlatan

In case you’ve never tried the classic Texas Cowboy Cookies, it’s a basic dough with oatmeal, coconut, pecans, corn flakes, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips mixed in. It’s an amazing combo that is so unexpected. For the skinny version (as far as mix-ins go), all I changed was to use bran flakes instead of corn flakes. The recipe makes about 18 or 20 small cookies, your only job is to not eat all of them in one sitting. Best of luck.

Here are some other cookie recipes you will love!

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Skinny Texas Cowboy Cookies

5 from 1 vote
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 11 minutes
Chill Time: 30 minutes
Total: 51 minutes
Servings: 18 Cookies
These low calorie cookies have NO sugar, NO white flour, and only 2 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch! What they do have are a ton of mix-ins. Oatmeal, coconut, bran flakes, pecans to name a few. They taste like a Texas Cowboy Cookie, but way better for you! (Which means I can eat half a batch...right?)
 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut, packed
  • 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Wheaties, bran flakes
  • 6 tablespoons dark chocolate chips, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup agave , OR honey*
  • dark chocolate chips, more to top with
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter chips, (to top with. I used Reese's)

Instructions

  • Get out a large bowl and a medium bowl.
  • In the large bowl, melt the butter and coconut oil. Set aside to cool.
  • In the medium bowl, add the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and whisk together.
  • Next add the coconut, pecans, bran flakes, and chopped chocolate to the dry ingredients.
  • Add the vanilla and 1 egg to the wet ingredients. Whisk it in right away.
  • Add the honey or agave and stir.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until it's incorporated. (Don't overdo it, stop when the flour streaks are gone.) The dough is quite sticky.
  • Cover the dough and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or if you're in a rush you could do 15 minutes in the freezer.
  • Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  • Shape the dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Use your hands to flatten them out a little bit. (see photos).
  • Place them on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 11-13 minutes, or until they are just getting golden on the edges.
  • Immediately after coming out of the oven, press additional chocolate chips and peanut butter chips into the top of each cookie.
  • Let the cookies set on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

*If you love honey flavor then by all means use it. The agave is a little more neutral. Either one works great!

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 135mg | Potassium: 102mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 70IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 154
Keyword: Cookies, cowboy, texas
Did you make this? I'd love to see it!Mention @thefoodcharlatan or tag #thefoodcharlatan!

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Comments

  1. Can the wheaties be omitted? And can I use almond flour if gf flour?  I had these that someone else made and they were sooo good! 

    1. Hi Michele! I haven’t tried those adjustments! The wheaties can be omitted no problem. And I *think* it would work ok to try a gf flour? but can’t guarantee anything. Good luck! Tell us how it goes!

  2. In case anyone is curious, I plugged this “skinny” recipe and her original Texas Cowboy Cookie recipe into myfitnesspal to see how they compare. I’m not going to try to copy and paste the entire results, but these are definitely a “skinny” version of the cookies. These are NOT trying to be health food, people! They’re just better for you than the originals.

    With the skinny version, I did omit the extra choc chips at the end but kept the pb chips. For 18 small cookies, per serving of one cookie I got 142 Cal, 6g Fat, 19g Carbs (11g sugar), and 3g protein.

    With the original recipe, it makes 18 HUGE cookies, so I divided it into 36 small cookies. So, for each serving of one cookie I got 282 Cal, 20g Fat, 24g Carbs (15g sugar) and 3g protein.

    So basically, you can have two of the “skinny” cookies for every one of the original recipe, calorie wise. Or, if you calorie count, 140 calories is 1/10 of a 1400 calorie diet. That’s a LOT of calories you can save and still enjoy a treat. Personally I think that’s pretty dang good – especially for cookies that still taste like real cookies, and not some weird healthy cardboard cookie.

    Is honey sugar? Yes. Is coconut oil a fat replacement for butter? Yes. Do chocolate chips have sugar? Duh. But they are COOKIES and you may as well just eat a salad and call it a day rather than try to make delicious cookies without any fat or sugar. Hope someone finds this helpful!!

  3. These were delicious, and I didn’t even have the peanut butter chips or add extra chocolate chips. I did add extra nuts and seeds and baked them a bit longer.  Just enough sweet,  really terrific!

  4. These were SO GOOD!! I can’t believe that they have no added sugar and are so tasty and RICH. I added a handful of dried cranberry into the dry mix for a hint of tart too and we loved the result. Also, I didn’t have the whole cup of whole wheat flour, had about 3/4 a cup, used 1/4 flaxseed meal that I had and it turned out great. Usually cookie recipes this tasty call for loads of butter, cups of sugar, etc. I was surprised at the great end taste of this simple recipe. Definitely a HEALTHIER option than almost any other cookie I have made. Everyone loved these at a  dinner I brought them to. This is officially a staple recipe. Thank you for posting :o) 

    1. Ooh good idea with the flaxseed! I’m so glad you liked the cookies Anna! Thanks so much for your helpful comment!

  5. Good grief. Give her a break. They are healthier than a “regular” cowboy cookie. If folks are so worried about the skinny aspect maybe they should be eating an apple instead of trying so desperately to make a “healthy” cookie. 

    1. Hahaha! This made me laugh pretty hard Jessica! Maybe if we replace the butter or sugar with apples it will be healthy? or something? lol!

  6. Karen, these cookies are wonderful! My kids love them and I’m happy that they’re not getting the ADDED sugar that other recipes come with.
    Thank you so much!

  7. OK People bashing over them being called Skinny – You can eyeball the ingredients and determine that these have sugars, not refined white. For you low carbers, wheat flour is still flour substitute Coconut flour. Instead of honey use Stevia instead of regular use sugar free chips. Instead of bashing simply move on and make your own and post it. Then YOU can deal with all of the negativity people WILL post. I don’t care if they are they best food they’ve ever eaten. peace!

  8. Reese’s Peanut butter chips have 6g of sugar per tablespoon (so 24g in 1/4 cup). Chocolate chips have as much if not more depending on the brand (unless you use sugar-free), and honey or agave are both sugar, even if not refined white sugar. To say this recipe contains NO sugar is not accurate.

    1. Hey Jason! I just meant there’s no white granulated sugar in the recipe itself. Feel free to leave out all the ingredients that have sugar in them! But I don’t think they will taste very good :)

      1. I’m going to have to agree with Jason and call BS on your description.

        Amount Per Serving
        Calories 166.7, Total Fat 8.3 g, Cholesterol 13.8 mg, Total Carbohydrate 23.2 g, Dietary Fiber 2.2 g, Sugars 13.3 g, Protein 2.4 g

        You really have to be careful with describing something as ‘SKINNY’ and ‘NO SUGAR’ in your description. This gets shared around on keto boards (which is where I came from), and diabetic boards – and these cookies are nowhere near something we could eat. Not everyone is smart enough to find the nutritional value themselves, and most people blindly follow what you post – so please try and remember that in the future.

        1. Thanks for the info Christina! I can’t be responsible for what other people eat, or where they choose to post my recipe. And I disagree–I think pretty much everyone is smart enough to know what’s healthy for them to eat (which is different for everyone!) I take no responsibility for other people’s diets :) For me, a non keto non diabetic, these cookies are healthier than what I normally make, hence my description. Thanks again for looking up the calorie info! I’m sure that will help a lot of people!

        2. I agree. After making them I looked for the nutritional info and found these comments. Won’t be making this recipe again as it’s not really “skinny”. Sorry

          1. “Skinny” is all relative, isn’t it? :) Sure beats the cup of butter called for in the original recipe. :)

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