Chocolate Sandwich Cookies Two Ways (Healthy “Oreos”): No-Bake and Baked Grain-Free
Two ways to make the classic chocolate sandwich cookie you grew up dunking in milk, with a handful of whole-food ingredients and nothing artificial. Version 1 is a no-bake cookie of nuts, dates, and cacao, sandwiched around a silky vanilla bean coconut cream (vegan, when made with maple syrup). Version 2 is a crisp, baked, grain-free cookie with a whipped honey buttercream. Both are grain-free, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free.
Yield: About 12 sandwich cookies (each version) · Active: 30–40 min · Total: 1 hr 15 min–2 hours (or overnight, with the optional dehydrating) · Year-round · Best eaten: midday or early afternoon
Love sandwich cookies? Try my Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches, too.
Version 1: No-Bake Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Vanilla Bean Cream
Rich, chocolatey nut-and-date cookies with a silky vanilla bean coconut cream filling. Grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan, when made with maple syrup.
Chocolate cookies
1½ cups almonds or pecans (or walnuts, for a slightly richer, more bitter-chocolate flavor)
½ cup raw cacao powder
1 cup pitted Medjool dates (about 10), soft
Seeds of ½ vanilla bean (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
¼ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
1–2 tsp water, if needed
Vanilla bean cream filling
½ cup thick coconut cream (the solid part from a can of full-fat coconut cream, chilled overnight)
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Seeds of ½ vanilla bean
1–2 tbsp maple syrup or local raw honey
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Optional: 2 tbsp coconut butter, softened, for a firmer filling that holds better at room temperature
Make the dough. Process the nuts to a fine meal, then add the cacao, dates, vanilla, and salt, and process until the mixture sticks together when pressed, adding a teaspoon of water if needed.
Roll and cut. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to about ¼ inch thick, and cut it into 2-inch rounds with a cookie cutter, re-rolling the scraps. You’ll want about 24 rounds. For a classic look, gently press a pattern into the tops with a fork or a cookie stamp.
Firm them up. Freeze the rounds on a parchment-lined tray for 30 minutes, until firm. For a crisper cookie with a true snap, dehydrate them at 115°F for 6–8 hours instead.
Make the filling. Whisk or blend the coconut cream, melted coconut oil, vanilla seeds, sweetener, salt, and coconut butter (if using) until silky. Chill 15–20 minutes, until thick enough to pipe or spread.
Sandwich. Pipe or spread about 2 tsp of filling onto the flat side of half the cookies, then top them with the remaining cookies, and press gently.
Set. Chill the sandwiches 30 minutes, until the filling is firm.
Storage: Refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen up to 2 months. Serve them chilled, since coconut oil softens in a warm room.
A note on “raw”: U.S. almonds are pasteurized by law, even when labeled “raw,” so use unpasteurized Spanish almonds (or pecans or walnuts) for truly raw cookies. Raw cacao is made from beans that haven’t been roasted.
Version 2: Baked Grain-Free Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (GAPS-Friendly)
Crisp, buttery chocolate cookies made with coconut and almond flour, sandwiched with a silky whipped honey buttercream.
Cookies
⅓ cup coconut flour
⅓ cup blanched almond flour
5 tbsp raw cacao powder
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
¼–½ cup raw honey
½ cup grass-fed butter, melted
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
Honey buttercream
2 pasture-raised eggs
1 tsp pure almond extract
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) grass-fed cultured butter, softened
½ cup raw honey
Optional: ¼ cup raw cacao powder, for a chocolate filling
Prep. Heat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Make the dough. Melt the butter and coconut oil together. Whisk the coconut flour, almond flour, cacao, and salt in a bowl, then stir in the honey and melted fats. The dough will be soft.
Roll and chill. Spread the dough between two sheets of parchment to about ¼ inch thick, and freeze 15 minutes.
Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter (or a small mason jar lid), and set them on the lined baking sheet.
Bake 12–15 minutes, until set, watching closely, since honey browns quickly.
Cool completely on the sheet; they crisp as they cool.
Whip the eggs. For the buttercream, beat the eggs, almond extract, vanilla, and salt in a stand mixer until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes, then move them to a separate bowl.
Whip the butter. Beat the butter, honey, and cacao (if using) in the same bowl for 5–7 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
Combine. With the mixer running, slowly pour the eggs back into the butter, beating until smooth and silky.
Sandwich a generous dollop of buttercream between two cookies.
A note on the eggs: This buttercream uses raw eggs, so use very fresh pasture-raised eggs from a source you trust. If you’d rather, whisk the eggs and honey together in a bowl set over simmering water until the mixture reaches 160°F, then let it cool to room temperature before beating it into the butter.
A note on GAPS: GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) is a dietary protocol developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride for people with digestive challenges, which removes grains and refined sugars. This cookie follows its principles (grain-free, with honey and butter), but some stages of the protocol limit cocoa, so check which stage you’re in.
Storage: Refrigerated up to 5 days; let them soften slightly before serving.
Nourishment Notes
The no-bake cookies hold together with no flour, eggs, or leavening at all: the dates are sticky, and the nuts are rich in oil, so when they’re ground together, they bind into a dough. It’s the same idea behind bliss balls and date-and-nut bars, and it gives you a cookie that’s soft at room temperature and firm, almost like candy, from the fridge.
The baked cookies use a blend of coconut and almond flour. Coconut flour is very absorbent, which is why the dough is soft and benefits from a few minutes in the freezer before cutting, and almond flour adds richness and balance. The honey buttercream is made by whipping eggs into a light foam and beating them into honey-sweetened butter, for a silky, airy frosting with no powdered sugar. Cultured butter adds a faint, tangy depth that’s lovely with chocolate.
Almonds, pecans, and walnuts — vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, and monounsaturated fats. Walnuts are also the nut richest in ALA, a plant omega-3.
Raw cacao — magnesium, iron, flavanols, and theobromine, a gentle stimulant (so enjoy these earlier in the day).
Medjool dates — potassium, magnesium, and fiber, with a natural caramel sweetness.
Coconut cream, coconut oil, and coconut butter — lauric acid, a medium-chain fat. Coconut butter is the whole coconut flesh ground into a paste, fiber and all, which is why it gives the filling a firmer, more frosting-like body than coconut oil alone.
Grass-fed butter — vitamins A and K2, CLA, and butyrate.
Pasture-raised eggs — choline and vitamins A, D, E, and K2.
Coconut and almond flour — fiber, vitamin E, and magnesium.
Vanilla bean — vanillin and a warm, natural sweetness.
As a circadian treat, these cookies are best at midday or in the early afternoon, when your body handles sweets most gracefully.
A note on honey: Raw honey in the no-bake filling and the buttercream stays raw, but the honey in the baked cookies is no longer raw. Honey shouldn’t be given to babies under 12 months.
For your cycle: The cacao’s magnesium makes these a comforting treat in the luteal phase, when chocolate cravings often peak.
Sourcing
Almonds, pecans, or walnuts — organic; unpasteurized Spanish almonds, like Terrasoul’s, or organic pecans and walnuts, kept in the fridge
Raw cacao powder — organic, and ideally tested for heavy metals
Medjool dates — organic, soft, and plump
Coconut cream — organic and full-fat, made with just coconut and water, with no guar gum (Native Forest Simple comes in BPA-free cans)
Coconut oil and coconut butter — organic, virgin, and unrefined, like Nutiva or Artisana
Coconut flour and almond flour — organic (keep the almond flour in the fridge)
Grass-fed butter — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised, from a local farm or Alexandre Family Farm
Raw honey and maple syrup — organic, local, unfiltered raw honey; organic Grade A dark maple syrup
Vanilla — organic, plump vanilla beans (Madagascar or Tahitian), and pure vanilla and almond extracts
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall