These 6-Ingredient Healthy Pear Oatmeal Cookies are perfectly sweet, soft, chewy, cinnamony and have lovely little bursts of fresh pear. Made with all wholesome ingredients, this easy cookie recipe is flourless, vegan, dairy-free and refined sugar-free.
Pear cookies?! Have you ever heard of such a thing?
I have a feeling you’re going to go wild over this delicious dessert, especially if you enjoy oats and/or fresh pears.
If you tried my Healthy 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Cookies last year, you’ll love this juicy pear version just as much!
These soft and chewy cookies are made with six basic wholesome ingredients for a health-conscious cookie recipe. We simply combine ripe bananas, unsweetened almond butter, pure maple syrup, oats, cinnamon, and a pear.
The end result is a perfectly soft sweet cookie that has a lovely boost of cinnamon and some juicy pear notes.
This easy cookie recipe isn’t like a standard cookie recipe that uses butter and all-purpose flour. We don’t end up with the crispy edge or a fudgy center, but instead the consistency is similar to a mix between a muffin top and baked oatmeal.
If all of that sounds good to you, I trust these cookies will become a household staple!
They are just so quick and easy to make, require no baking experience, and are perfect for kids and humans of all ages that enjoy a healthier treat.
Let’s talk about those six simple ingredients, as each one is very important to the outcome of the recipe.
Ingredients for Pear Oatmeal Cookies:
Ripe Bananas: Two large ripe bananas get mashed up to serve as the majority of the sweetness of this healthy oatmeal cookie recipe. They also provide moisture, which is one of the reasons these cookies turn out soft and chewy.
For the best results, be sure to use overripe bananas that have plenty of brown spots, as this signifies that the bananas will be plenty sweet and moist.
Unsweetened Almond Butter: Taking the place of flour and the half cup butter, creamy almond butter helps hold all of the ingredients together and is also the fat portion of the recipe, which is what brings richness and flavor to any recipe.
Pure Maple Syrup: In order to boost the sweetness of the recipe, we add pure maple syrup. This keeps the cookies refined sugar-free and also helps with the moisture content.
Rolled Oats: Pick your favorite kind of oats, including old-fashioned oats, quick oats, or instant oats. Rolled oats will provide a nuttier texture, whereas quick oats will integrate into the ingredients more and have a softer texture.
To make the recipe gluten-free, use certified gluten-free oats. I use sprouted gluten free oats.
Ground Cinnamon: A generous amount of ground cinnamon is what makes these cookies taste like a real fall treat! If you have pumpkin pie spice on hand, consider using one teaspoon cinnamon and half teaspoon of pumpkin spice.
Sea Salt: While salt is generally not considered an ingredient since it is added to everything, it is especially important to use in sweet baked goods to level up all of the flavors. I often use a full teaspoon of sea salt, but for those who prefer less salt, I wrote the recipe to use 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Fresh Ripe Pear: Pick one large fresh ripe pear to chop up and add to these cookies. Any kind of pear works! Just be sure the pear seems somewhat soft (not too firm) for the best results, as we want the pears to soften and caramelize during the baking process and add natural sweetness to the cookies.
There are lots of ways you can change up this recipe to make some customizations! Here are some ideas.
Recipe Additions and Adaptations:
- You can use any kind of nut butter or seed butter here, including peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, or walnut butter. Whatever you use, just be sure it is well-stirred without a lot of oil separation and is nice and thick and sticky.
- The cookies don’t turn out crazy sweet, so if you want sweeter cookies, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, white sugar, or coconut sugar.
- If you don’t like bananas or if you’re allergic to bananas, use ⅔ cup of applesauce instead of bananas.
- Add ⅔ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans if you like nutty cookies.
- If you’re a fan of chocolate, consider adding up to ⅔ cup of chocolate chips or even white chocolate chips.
- Love dried fruit? Dried cranberries, raisins, or chopped dried apricots are great additions.
- If you have them on hand, add half a teaspoon vanilla extract and/or 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s bake some delicious chewy pear cookies!
How to Make Pear Oatmeal Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mash the ripe bananas in a mixing bowl until they are creamy. Add in the pure maple syrup and creamy almond butter and mix until the wet ingredients are completely combined.
Note: if your almond butter has been sitting in the refrigerator or is not at room temperature, microwave it for 30-60 seconds, until it becomes easy to stir.
Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl (oats, cinnamon, and sea salt) and mix well until a thick, sticky dough forms.
Drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheet using a spoon. The cookies won’t spread very much during the baking process, so make them any size you want. I like to make 12 medium to large sized cookies, but you can also go giant or small.
Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes on the center wrack of the preheated oven (depending on size). For 20 small cookies, bake 10 to 12 minutes, for medium-sized cookies, I bake for 14 to 15 minutes, and for large cookies, bake 15 to 18 minutes.
Remove the pear cookies from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature before moving them from the baking sheet using a spatula.
You can move them to a wire rack after 10 minutes of cooling if you’d like. Serve and enjoy!
Store cookies in a zip lock bag or an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. I don’t recommend storing the cooking at room temperature for longer than one day because of the moisture content.
You can also freeze these cookies for up to 3 months in a freezer bag or ziplock bag.
I love this recipe for those times you want something sweet but not overly sugary. I also think it’s a great way to use up ripe pears. Pear tree owners, pear recipes like this are a great resource! Make a double batch or triple if you have two cookie sheets or multiple baking sheets.
You can turn the recipe into oatmeal cookie pear bars by transferring the cookie dough to an 8-inch baking pan and baking at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
To prepare this as a make-ahead recipe, prepare the cookie dough in a mixing bowl, wrap with plastic wrap and chill dough in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake.
The next time you have a craving for oatmeal cookies, whip up this easy dessert recipe! If you enjoy oatmeal treats like this one, also try out these gems!
More Oatmeal Dessert Recipes:
- 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Chocolate Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread
- Healthy Apple Oatmeal Bread
- Healthy Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
- No-Bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cups
Enjoy these soft oatmeal pear cookies as a quick breakfast, snack, or dessert!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed (⅔ cup)*
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
- 2/3 cup (160g) unsweetened almond butter
- 2 cups (200g) rolled oats
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 fresh pear, peeled and chopped
Optional Additions:
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, optional
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mash the ripe bananas in a mixing bowl until they are creamy. Add in the pure maple syrup and creamy almond butter and mix until the wet ingredients are completely combined. Note: if your almond butter has been sitting in the refrigerator or is not at room temperature, microwave it for 30-60 seconds, until it becomes easy to stir.
- Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl (oats, cinnamon, sea salt, and chopped pear) and mix well until a thick, sticky dough forms.
- Drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheet using a spoon. The cookies won’t spread very much during the baking process, so make them any size you want. I like to make 12 medium to large sized cookies, but you can also go giant or small.
- Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes on the center wrack of the preheated oven (depending on size). For 20 small cookies, bake 10 to 12 minutes, for medium-sized cookies, I bake for 14 to 15 minutes, and for large cookies, bake 15 to 18 minutes.
- Remove the pear cookies from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature before moving them from the baking sheet using a spatula. You can move them to a wire rack after 10 minutes of cooling if you’d like. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Petra Davila
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
Simply yummy yummy
Julia
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
Thanks, Petra! We love them! xo
Ruth Wickerd
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
For those who have never baked before, not me, when do you add in the pears? It’s not in the directions.
Julia
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
Thanks for catching that, Ruth! Add the chopped pear at the same time as the oats, cinnamon, and sea salt. You can also add the chopped pear after mixing in the oats if you'd like :) Hope you enjoy the cookies!