Crispy Quinoa Cacao Cookies (No-Bake!)

These Crispy Quinoa Cacao Cookies (No-Bake!) are the most delicious crunchy treat to feed your sweet tooth in a healthy way! Made with just 7 ingredients, these gluten-free, vegan, grain-free, nut-free no bake cookies are sure to be stocked in your freezer at all times!

Imagine cocoa Rice Krispie treats meet Starcrunch… but wayyyyy healthier 😉 Admittedly I had to look up what Starcrunches are, I posted this reel on Instagram and someone commented that’s what they looked like.

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They are so crunchy and perfectly sweetened with maple syrup for the best (highly addicting) snack! These crispy no-bake cookies only require 7 simple ingredients: coconut butter, sunflower seed butter, maple syrup, unsweetened cacao/cocoa powder, salt, and puffed quinoa.

The Ingredients:

Coconut butter. You may also use coconut oil in place of the coconut butter, I know that it’s more readily available, however, the coconut butter does give these cookies more of a creamy taste as opposed to using oil. The coconut butter is also what allows these no-bake cookies to set up properly and hold together.

Sunflower seed butter. You can substitute the sunflower seed butter with another nut/seed butter, such as peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc. but to keep these little gems nut-free and allergy-friendly, the sunflower butter works great. I use unsweetened sunflower seed butter to keep the refined sugars down.

Cacao powder vs. cocoa powder. So it’s ok to use either one, as long as it’s unsweetened. I prefer to use cacao as it’s the rawest form of cocoa powder and often contains more nutrients as it’s processed less than cocoa powder, but again, cocoa powder is probably more readily available in stores- so it’s ok to sub.

Quinoa. I used puffed quinoa in this recipe, which may be a little challenging to find… I purchased it on Amazon already puffed- kinda like Rice Krispies or crispy rice cereal. You might be able to puff your own at home from cooked quinoa, which makes these cookies a tad more labor intensive and will take longer, but I still think they’d be totally worth it. But using puffed quinoa allows this dessert recipe to also be grain-free. Yes, quinoa is actually not a grain! Read more on quinoa in my QUINOA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES post.

Maple syrup. Maple syrup is always my go-to natural sweetener. I love the depth of maple flavor it gives these no-bake cookies and it’s also low FODMAP making it easier on your gut than other sugars. Be sure you’re using pure maple syrup and not maple-flavored syrup. They are definitely not the same thing.

How to make these no-bake cookies:

These Crispy Quinoa Cacao Cookies are so easy to make, you simply melt the coconut butter, sunflower seed butter, maple syrup and pure vanilla extract together in a medium bowl, then whisk in the cacao powder and salt and gently fold in the puffed quinoa. Scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with a cookie scoop and then gently flatten and shape into rounds. Chill for about 30 minutes in the freezer and then enjoy! Keep them stored in the freezer to keep them extra crunchy and enjoy within a week or so… but I highly doubt they will last that long, lol.

Aside from being totally addicting and easy to make, these no-bake cookies actually contain some really great nutrients too, thanks to the coconut butter, sunflower seed butter, cacao powder, quinoa, and even maple syrup! So you go ‘head gurrrllll- eat 2 or three 😉

Let me know if you’re as in love with these Crispy Quinoa Cacao Cookies as I am down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover this healthy snack recipe! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!