When I set out to make zucchini cookies I knew exactly how I wanted them to taste – rich, sticky, nutty and…oaty! Zucchini bread always seems like such a wholesome, hearty dessert to me, so I wanted its zucchini cookie counterpart to feel the same!
These cookies are cookies designed for people who love oatmeal cookies, and that’s because along with the zucchini, the oats are the star. I use a method where I brown the butter and toast the oats together, making the oats all buttery, toasty, nutty and chewy, which enhances the cookie tenfold. The zucchini gives back any moisture that the oats have absorbed from the butter, and everything comes together to make an oat-filled, sticky but soft chocolate chip cookie!
If you are a zucchini bread lover, this zucchini cookie is totally for you. If you are an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie addict, this cookie will take you by surprise. And if you just love trying new and different kinds of cookies (and the idea of a sticky-soft cookie with crispy edges appeals to you!), then you’ve found the right place. Read on for how to make these zucchini cookies, as well as how to store them, and a few of my other favorite tips!
Table of contents
- Ingredients you will need for these zucchini chocolate chip cookies
- How to make the brown butter oats
- One thing to note about this zucchini cookie dough
- How long do you need to chill these cookies?
- The best way to freeze, store and keep these zucchini cookies
- Why is this recipe in grams?
- Watch the recipe here
Ingredients you will need for these zucchini chocolate chip cookies
This cookie recipe follows your standard choco-chip number, however with a few changes here and there! (The key one: no egg, and I promise you won’t miss it!)
Here’s everything you will need for these sticky-soft cookies:
- 1 medium zucchini, 5.6 ounces / 160 grams
- 1 cup salted butter, 8 ounces / 227 grams
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats, 5.3 ounces / 150 grams
- 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed, 2.8 ounces / 80 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar, 7.8 ounces / 220 grams
- 1 1/2 cup, plus a scant 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 7.75 ounces / 215 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 2/3 cup chopped dark chocolate, 4 ounces / 113 grams
- Flaky salt for topping
How to make the brown butter oats
The key differentiator of this recipe is the brown butter oats. And believe me, they are good. When I first came up with this idea I remember looking at my pan and being like: “THIS IS INNOVATION.”
Obviously, I think very highly of myself, lol.
But making brown butter oats is actually way easier than you’d think! You are just browning butter, but instead of the butter hanging out on its own, you add oats! The oats get all toasty, nutty, and injected with brown butter flavor. And they are all the better for it!
To make the brown butter oats, you’ll want to set a pan over medium heat and add your butter. Let the butter fully melt before adding the oats. Stir occasionally, letting the butter bubble and foam, and cook for 4-5 minutes. You’ll see the butter (and the oats) turn a deep, golden brown. That’s when it’s time to remove it from the heat!
During this time the oats will have absorbed some of the butter, so they will look more toasted and darker in color. That’s what you want!
One thing to note about this zucchini cookie dough
Zucchini is a wet ingredient, the sugars we are adding will make the butter and even *wetter* ingredient, and there’s not much flour to hold this recipe together.
All that to say – the dough is gonna look wet.
Be prepared for you to be able to scoop the dough into balls, but if the balls start spreading after you scoop them, don’t sweat it!
This dough texture is what helps the cookies stay sticky, chewy and soft. So a loose dough is no problem here!
How long do you need to chill these cookies?
I recommend you chill these cookies for at least an hour before baking, in fact, I demand it!
I do this not to be mean (I hate making you wait for cookies), BUT because since this cookie is so high-moisture, the flour needs a bit of time to saturate with the rest of the ingredients.
You can chill the dough up to 24 hours, and the longer it sits, the better it gets.
The longer you chill the dough, the softer of a center and the crispier of an edge you will get. This is because the flour will have had some time to mingle with the other ingredients, giving you a solid structure for your cookie.
The best way to freeze, store and keep these zucchini cookies
Like all great cookie recipes, it’s a real treat to freeze some of the dough to bake on-demand. For these cookies, you can store them before or after baking. Here’s how I like to store mine:
Frozen
- To freeze the dough – Portion the cookie dough into balls and place them on a flat surface so that just their edges touch. Cover this flat surface with cling wrap and transfer the cookie dough to the freezer. They will keep for up to 6 months. When you are ready to bake, remove the dough from the freezer, break off as many balls as you’d like to bake, and follow the baking instructions, adding two minutes for thawing.
- To freeze the cookies – Add the cookies to an airtight container or ziploc bag. Place them in the freezer and they will keep for up to six months. To thaw the cookies, either use the microwave setting on medium for 30 seconds, or pop them in the oven at 350°F for 5-9 minutes.
Refridgerator
- To keep the dough in the fridge – Follow the recipe box instructions below. Keep the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours. If keeping in the fridge for longer, make sure to cover it with plastic wrap. The dough will keep for 5-6 days.
- To keep the cookies in the fridge – Add the cookies to an airtight container or ziploc bag. Place them in the fridge and they will keep for up to three weeks. Enjoy whenever!
Pantry
- Only the finished cookies will keep in the pantry. Add them to an airtight container, store them in a cool, dry place and they will keep for 5-6 days.
Why is this recipe in grams?
Grams is always my preference for baking, and I hope it will soon be yours, too! The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, and not volume. As much as I wish I could give you multiple ways to measure ingredients, in this recipe measuring by cups might cause some volatility and miss-matched results. I want to ensure you get the best results with this recipe (and I want to keep this recipe fool-proof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this particular recipe!
And that’s it for these Sticky Oaty Zucchini Cookies! If you make them, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Watch the recipe here
The video may not fully represent the recipe. For best results, follow the instructions as written.
Sticky Oaty Zucchini Cookies
Equipment
- 1 rasp-style grater
- 1 small sauté pan
- 1 Spatula
- 1 cookie scoop
- 2 sheets of parchment paper
- 2 half sheet pans
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini 5.6 ounces / 160 grams
- 1 cup salted butter 8 ounces / 227 grams
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats 5.3 ounces / 150 grams
- 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed 2.8 ounces / 80 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar 7.75 ounces / 220 grams
- 1 1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 7.6 ounces / 215 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 2/3 cup chopped dark chocolate 4 ounces / 113 grams
- Flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Using a rasp-style grater, grate the zucchini into a large bowl and set aside.
- Set a small pan over medium heat. Add the cup of butter and let it fully melt, then add the 1 1/4 cup of oats. Begin to brown these together, letting the butter begin to bubble and foam. Stir occasionally and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until you can see the butter begin to turn dark brown, and the oats have toasted along with it.
- Pour the brown butter into the bowl with the zucchini. Mix and let this cool for 15 minutes (it should go from very hot to warm).
- Add 6 tablespoons of dark brown sugar and 1 cup of granulated sugar to the bowl. Mix this together with a spatula.
- Add the 1 1/2 cups and 1 tablespoon of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix this in well with the spatula. The dough will still be very wet, and that's okay!
- Make sure the dough is cool (if it's too warm the chocolate will melt), and add in the 2/3 cup of chopped chocolate. Mix together.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough into 20 even balls, each about 55 grams each. Place these on a baking sheet and let them chill in the fridge for 1 hour, but up to 24.
- When you are ready to bake, set a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350°F.
- Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and add six cookie dough balls to each sheet, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350°F.
- When the cookies are out of the oven, use a large cup or cookie cutter to "swirl" the cookies around the edges, making them into perfect circles.
- Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of flaky salt. Let them cool at room temperature until the pan is cool enough to touch (they will be pretty delicate to handle before then!), and serve!
Do you know how I could turn these into banana cookies? Could there be any substitutes? Excited to try!!
Oooo I haven’t tested it with banana yet, but feel free to try out the salted banana cookies on this site! They are super good
I have not tried your recipe yet but as someone who has written baking curriculum and advised on an encyclopedia of baking(probably before you were born and was not published after I was paid…oh Well) I declare this idea BRILLIANT!!! I cant wait to try it!!
Oh wow, a high compliment! I can’t wait for you to try it!
So delicious, I did 1/3 milk chocolate and 1/3 dark chocolate, so yummy. Wow. Just wow
These are the most incredible cookies I have ever baked and/or eaten. I truly do not have much more to say than that. You have done it again! Thank you SO MUCH.
IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE THEM 💚 this comment made my day
so amazing so chewy and so delicious new favorite cookie!!!
You guys keep making my day with these comments! Thank you so much for making it and I’m so glad you liked it!
Amazing recipe however mine looked nothing like then pictures above the are quite tall and did not flatten at all. Taste wise amazing so i might just have to flatten them a little before baking since i followed the instructions. Cant wait to bake the ones i have frozen
Hi! This is most likely a flour measuring issue, if you measure the flour by weight in the future they should come out thinner!
Justine, I will be using King Arthur’s 1:1 gluten-free flour for these. Do you know how I might figure out the grams?
That’s my favorite gf sub! You can treat it the same as AP flour, use the same weight 🙂
Oh great- thanks!
Delicious! I made mine gluten-free by using. I have a cup of almond flour and one cup of a gluten-free baking mix from Aldi. I flattened them down before I baked them, and they came out perfect!
So glad you liked them!
Hi, can you let me know if this flour worked out!!?
Do you think the dough could be frozen??
Absolutely, see notes for how to freeze and thaw in the blog post!
Of course!
I just wanted to mention that I had the same issue as this poster, but I did measure my flour by mass.
I think for me this may have been causing by having less moisture in my dough, the brown butter and oat mixture boiled off some water from my zucchini, and the whole mixture stayed too warm to add the chocolate for about an hour.
I also used home grown zucchini, one of which was a yellow heirloom variety–maybe that type also just happens to have less water.
They were still delicious! Bringing them for my students today and I am sure they will also love them.
The same thing happened to me the first time I made these, even though I followed the measurements by weight. I think what happened is that the zucchini I used was less moist, so when I tried again I reduced the flour by about 15g or so and the cookies came out perfectly that time.
These look amazing and I’m so looking forward to trying them!! Would it be possible to reduce the amount of butter in this recipe? If so, should I substitute with anything? These look so good but 2 sticks of butter is a bit much for me
Hi there! Due to the “sticky” consistency of this cookie, it’s a bit specific, so I can’t recommend a good butter substitute that will get you an exact replication of the cookie. However (to hopefully alleviate your fears!) this recipe yields quite a few cookies, so the two sticks of butter are spread out among many servings. Think of it as comparable to the Nestle chocolate chip cookie recipe (just tastier, imo!)
I used half (vegan) butter and half tahini. turned out great!
Absolutely delicious! I made the dough in the morning and baked them in the afternoon, with smaller cut oats and spelt instead of wheat flour since that was what I had at home. They came out delicately moist and super complex in flavour, will definitely add these to my repertoire!
Bonus points for the smell of browned butter and roasted oats waking the house!
Hi Justine! Extremely limited fridge space situation in my small Spanish kitchen, and wondering if there would be any issue to let the dough rest in the fridge in the mixing bowl BEFORE I portion into cookies. Thank you, I love your content, and I can’t wait to make these! ❤️
That’s totally fine! I did that this morning actually 🙂
Lol, literally was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else asked. If anything, I think it might be better to do it like this for a more even flour absorption
Hi Justine! Are you draining any of the zucchini liquid?
No need to!
Made the dough after work and baked them off in the morning. They’re perfect! Never thought I’d like an oat zucchini cookie but here I am.
I saw another comment that said their cookies didn’t spread- mine didn’t either, but I think that’s because I took out 30% of the sugar.
So for anyone that likes less sugar in their sweets— it does work but maybe perhaps you’ll have a thiccums instead of a skinny legend cookie if you don’t flatten them out beforehand
Well…I think I just found my new favourite cookie recipe! The nuttiness, the texture, the balance between salty and sweet. Simple yet incredibly tasty!
So SO happy you liked it!!
These look amazing! Can I use instant oats to replace old fashioned oats?
Absolutely, just measure the same amount by weight 🙂
Long time lurker, first recipe made and hot damn girl this was delicioussssss ✨💛 easily new fave cookie to have on my rotation.
Omg I’m THRILLED whenever a lurker makes a recipe – it’s like a badge of honor for the video haha
Beyond stoked to make these for my kids and delight with them for dessert!! Thank you for making veggies in cookies a thing!!
Absolutely! Veggies forever <3
I’m excited to try this recipe! Do you think freezing the dough in balls for three days before baking would still give the same results?
You will have to bake them for longer, but the beauty of cookie dough is it freezes well!
Justine, hi! I made these last night. They are missing the stickiness, the bite, no crisp edge. Where did I go wrong?!
Oh no! Okay, this is vague feedback but I will do my best!
1) If they are domed and cakey, you probably used too much flour or not enough sugar. This is a common thing that people run into if they are measuring by cups instead of weight (weight is much more accurate, I only recently started adding cups to my baking recipes and might go back to just using grams!). I tested this a few times, and even a small tweak of 10 grams of flour made such a huge difference, so I recommend using grams as a default measurement to get the stickiness!
But 2) If they are flat but just too “dry” and not meeting your stickiness quota, it could be an oven calibration issue! Ovens are designed to reach your set temperature, then they turn off the heat source for 5-10 minutes (depending on the oven brand), measure the internal temperature, and then turn on to readjust to reach your set temperature again. This means some ovens can be much colder or warmer than the temp they are reading. If you have an oven thermometer, you’re ahead of the game. If you don’t, then your oven may have run hot, which could have dried out the cookie and removed any of the chewy texture!
3) Lack of a crispy edge can come from many places, BUT a crispy edge, chewy center cookie is made from a good combination of sugar and butter. If you browned the butter for not enough time, there might be extra moisture (approximately 30 grams of water evaporates from the butter during the browning process), which would impact that ratio of sugar to butter and eliminate the crispy edge.
Lastly, the chocolate you use also contributes to a crispy-edged cookie, because its sugars will melt into the dough itself, creating more spread because of a higher level of sugar in the overall dough. This only occurs when you use chocolate bars, since chocolate chips have stabilizers that prevent the chips from blending into any cookie dough.
Phew! Sorry, the baking nerd came out for a minute. But I didn’t know exactly what issue you were having, so I gave my best advice for them all! I hope this helps, and I’m sad it was only a four star recipe for you, but I hope to win you back in the next one!
You’re so sweet! 5 stars! 😁 truly, thank you for taking the time. You caught me – I absolutely did not weigh anything. But you have taught me a most valuable lesson and I promise from here on out, im busting out the scale!
These sound amazing! I am going to swap the chocolate with raisins – do you think I need to reduce the sugar in that case?
P.s. the blueberry white choc chip cookies are my all time favorite!
I don’t think any other adjustments will be needed, these sound like they’ll be great with raisins!
These were INCREDIBLE. I’m not a confident baker but these were so straightforward and so so delicious. I ended up re balling up the dough after it sat in the fridge for a few hours to get a better shape. Woke up this morning with this recipe in my inbox and so glad I made them. Yum!
So SO thrilled you liked them! And good tip on reshaping the dough!
Not a big zucchini baking person but OMG the toasted brown butter oats got me. These are so good, will make again!
So SO happy you liked them!!
Do you think i can use coconut sugar in place of granulated?
It will give the dough a slightly looser texture but it should still bake up fine
Hi, can you say more about the type of grater to use? Is this the same as a microplane used when zesting a lemon?
Thanks!
Hello! And yes, it’s the same as a zester. I have mine linked in my blog post titled “My Most Used Items”
Can I first of all say THANK YOU for putting the measurements in grams! I made these gluten free by subbing out the flour with a gluten free blend. Ignoring the slightly strange look (thanks, gluten free flour) these still tasted DELICIOUS! If I eat the entire batch does that count as one of my five a day?
I don’t see why not 😉 AND GRAMS FOREVER BB
SO excited to try these!! My partner has a dairy allergy, do you think non-dairy butter should work the same with this recipe?
I haven’t personally tested it but I always have great luck with miyokos or country crock non-dairy butters!
Planning to try with country crock plant butter today. I will report back.
Never in my LIFE did I think I would be recommending a cookie recipe with zucchini in it. This cookie is soooooo good. I can’t wait to shock guests when they try to guess what the secret ingredient is!!
Hi, could you clarify for me please: so you bake the balls as they are- without flattening them before cooking? Thank you
Bake them as they are 🙂
If I didn’t trust Justine implicitly from other banger recipes, I never would have tried these cookies. Zucchini in cookies sounds terrible, but DAMN. These may be the best cookies I have ever had. So tender and delicious. Also, definitely recommend sticking to weights when mixing. I had to add way more than 1 1/4c oats to get the appropriate weight. More like 1 1/2c I think? Maybe 1 3/4c. The butter/oats pre-cooked on the stopetop was also GENIOUS! Never would have thought to do that. Another amazing recipe, thanks Justine!
For those who might want to do the same, I made these with GF flour and they were still fantastic. Couldn’t tell the difference at all. Highly recommend for others who are also gluten free/celiac/gluten intolerant.
Me: *desperate to chip away at my fridge full of zucchini*
You: *right on time in my inbox with this incredible recipe*
These were delicious! The nuttiness of the brown butter/toasted oats complements the zucchini and dark chocolate really well. I substituted gluten free flour, but they still spread out and caramelized nicely while baking.
It did take me a bit longer than noted to brown the butter (close to 15 minutes) but in retrospect I think I should have used a pan larger than my small saucepan.
Very tasty! A great way to use up the extra zucchini from my garden.
I rarely bake something immediately after watching a video on FB, but my co-worker gave me some zucchini, and these sound amazing!! Absolutely making them tonight so I can bake them up in the morning
I just made these and they didn’t thin out while they were baking, they stayed pretty thick. I followed the recipe to the T. What could be wrong?
Hi McKenna! Were you measuring by weight or by cups? Weight will give you the exact result you are looking for, where cups can be sneakily variable (especially when it comes to measuring flour). I tested this recipe with a lot of flour measurements, and even a change of ten grams took a thin cookie and made it way cakier and taller. My first suggestion would be to start there, and if you did measure by weight, please let me know and we can troubleshoot!
Made these cookies and they are some of the best cookies I have had! I love the browned butter/oats combo. Such a great recipe!!
So SO happy you liked them!
Justine, you are a genius of life and these cookies were perfection! I followed the recipe to a T (grams!) and was rewarded with some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. Please please please share more ways to use the brown butter oat situation because I’m obsessed. Thank you!
I am also obsessed and so glad you liked them!!
Hi! I saw the video for this recipe somewhere but now I can’t find it – can you link to videos in your blog posts? Sorry to ask you to do even MORE work for us!
The reason I wanted to watch it again: when you say rasp style grater do you mean a microplane/tiny tiny shreds?
Thanks.
Yes! And yes 🙂 Microplane is a brand name (crazy, right?) so rasp-style grater means the same thing, just the more generic term!
These were delicious! But like another commenter said, mine remained quite tall so I’m guessing I’m lacking that chewiness/crispy edge I was hoping for. I used a scale for everything too. My mix was also not as wet as the video on Instagram.
Hi Evelyn! This puts me in a pickle, my one guess is that maybe your zucchini was not as ~wet~ as mine or that the oats absorbed much more butter than they were supposed to! Either way, I’m sorry they didn’t achieve the promised result. I promise we test baking recipes thoroughly on this site (I have a few other testers that live across the country so we can test in different environments!), and I wish I could be more helpful in pinpointing where things went amiss!
So, so good!
I used a 1:1 substitution (by weight) of rice flour and a bit of xanthan gum to make them gluten free and they turned out as pictured. Will be making them many more times during this zucchini season!
So happy I made these! It’s endless zucchini season in my garden so I was happy to find your recipe! I used half (vegan) butter, half tahini as a brown butter experiment and it didn’t brown too much but the nuttiness of the tahini really added some depth I fear I would have missed without it. I also opted to use less sugar so my cookies were a bit puffier but it reminds me of the chocolate zucchini bread my Mom used to make me when I was a child. Excellent recipe!
I just realized the cookies don’t have any eggs in them. Is there a reason for that? Regardless I’ll be making them this weekend!
Eggs would make them too cakey! I’m not a fan of eggs in cookies in general, I like the fudgier texture cookies get without them!
I have yet to dislike a recipe from Justine after following along the last few years. And this one is another BANGER! My kids, who thankfully are naturally very adventurous and bougie, are as obsessed with these “grown up cookie” as the grown ups are.
I made a batch the day they were released because my garden is exploding and I needed to use up zucchini, and then im making another batch now because they’re so tasty and I want to share.
This time I’m lowering the sugar and used monk fruit sweetener. I also swapped out 1/2 flour with my favorite protein powder that I bake with. The cookies didn’t flatten quite the same, but they also didn’t flatten the first time (weighed the flour and checked oven temp). We didn’t care though, they were deliciously gooey still.
Anyway, my novel is here to tell you that these cookies and incredible, children approved, and if you like to play with recipes like me, pretty adaptable.
Hey Justine, I just made these, and also had the issue that other commenters above mentioned. The cookies turned out thick, very cake-like, not at all chewy. I followed the recipe to a T, measured using a scale in grams, and used high quality ingredients. I even used a just picked, homegrown zucchini that was exactly the recommended weight. I’m guessing the zucchini is where the variability lies, as they can be dense or watery depending on growing conditions, and apparently mine was more dense than what was used in testing. I’m sure this batch will get eaten, but next time I plan to grate up more zucchini, and add a bit more until it reaches more of the consistency in your video. I think I’ll also get my butter a little closer to browned before adding the oats in, but I do have a hunch it’s because of the zucchini.
You can also use 10 grams less of flour, my recipe testers and I tested about five flour variations and we found that even 10 grams made a huge difference! I’m sorry you didn’t get the desired result!
Made these today and they were a huge hit with the whole family, from the grandparents down to the toddlers! Great way to use up zucchini from the garden! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
For those wondering about making these VEGAN:
I swapped the butter for margarine and they worked just fine.
Only thing is margarine doesn’t « brown » like butter does, I just toasted the oats with the margarine until they were nice and golden, although the margarine was just sort of foaming up (not foamy anymore once cooled).
Overall these cookies are delicious, very nice and chewy!
I let my dough sit in the fridge overnight, which definetly makes a difference as I baked a few straight away (impatient, I know!) and they turned out softer.
Another great recipe Justine, keep doing what you do❤️
Hi Justine! I just made this batter and have it in the fridge chilling however I noticed it is not nearly as loose as your batter. I think this is because by the time my butter was brown it had reduced by quite a bit. Is there a way to fix this? And do you have any tips on how to avoid this in the future? Thank you!
Hi Abby – this could be a butter or sugar or zucchini issue, too. I’m sorry it happened (I’ve seen a few commenters have different oat absorption, so it can also be oats as well!) To prevent it in the future I’d suggest stopping your brown butter process right with the milk solids begin to turn light golden, not deep golden. Then any residual heat won’t cook off too much of the butter’s moisture!
I made these today, so delicious. Thank you kindly Justine.
Im just baking these cookies and the dough seems really dry. I decided to make half the recipe, but I’m still pretty sure I measured correctly. What can I do?? Did the water evaporate from the butter too much?? Help!
Did you measure by cups? You probably have a bit too much flour or sugar!
I tried these after seeing them on YouTube! A few comments- I measured everything to the gram with my food scale which I am fairly certain is accurate. My cookies didn’t really spread at all, they remained kind of thick. I saw that this could be a flour measuring issue but again I weighed everything so I’m not sure what might have happened. They rested in the fridge about 12 hours overnight. They still turned out GREAT! Very tasty. I wonder if it was my butter- I used Kerrygold but have had issues with it in cookies specifically before and I wonder if it’s because of the fat content. I used chopped Coffee Buzz bars from Trader Joes for my chocolate for a little extra zing and they paired beautifully. I don’t really think the cinnamon added anything- I may omit this in the future and maybe try a little Cocoa powder instead, or maybe some vanilla paste for a different flavor profile. Ultimately I really enjoyed them and can’t wait to munch on them this week! Always trying to find ways to incorporate more veggies and zucchini is simply the best!
Hello! We are learning from the comments that some zucchini are a bit juicer than others (haha), and some graters grate finer/thicker shreds, so that might have been what changed the moisture level in your cookies and impacted the spread! If you make them again, feel free to decrease the flour amount by ten grams, which should increase the spread significantly. Happy baking!
Thank you so much! Great cookie! Well written recipe! I paired mine with Jeni’s new collaboration ice cream flavor, Bastani Sonnati.
Oooo sounds delicious, I’m so glad you liked them!
Made these earlier and the cookies domed and didn’t get crispy edges. They taste like they’ve got a tad too much flour but I thought I measured so carefully (by weight)… will try again as it’s definitely something that’s gone wrong on my end! Thanks so much for the recipe – will pop back on here to give ‘em five stars once I’ve sorted out my error(s) xx
P.S. A very minor note: going forward, would you be able to include oven temps in Celsius as well please? Thank you!! 🙂
Hello! If you measured by weight, it’s probably not you! What we are learning via comments is that zucchinis probably vary in how much moisture they have and how they are grated, which can impact the spread of the cookie. Feel free to decrease the flour amount by ten grams next time, if you’d like! (I’m hesitant to add that adjustment to the recipe, since my testers and I are happy with the current amount for more *juicer* zucchinis lol). Happy Baking!
So so excited to try these!!
I have a GF person in my life and I totally plan to try these with the Bob’s 1:1 sub which I’m relieved to see has been successful in the comments. But to be crazy and maybe add even more nuttiness – what are your thoughts on subbing with oat flour or quinoa flour? The proportions would defs be different, but flavour-wise I’d love your opinion!
Hello! So from experience I know oat flour tends to absorb moisture, so your cookies won’t spread as much as with Bob’s 1:1. I’ve never tried quinoa flour, but I’m intrigued! I’ll have to go source some!
These are absolutely incredible. The lil wait times and browned butter make the entire process and sensory simulation tank out of the kitchen and process. Cookies were marvelous, no egg miracles.
Mine didn’t spread so the second round I smashed em a bit. Next time I’ll try with flour weighing instead of cup measuring. I’m at high alt so I also added a few min to the bake.
Thanks for creating and sharing this.
So so glad you enjoyed it!
When I saw a video of this recipe two days ago, I said out loud, “wow, I need those.” Yesterday I prepped the dough, and today I am baking them! I was not wrong… I needed these in my life.
I tripled the recipe and it worked out great, just noticed that the oatmeal and butter browning took at least 12-13ish minutes with the greater amount of both in my pan. Can’t wait to share this batch and make again!
So SO glad you liked it!!
These are some of the best cookies I have ever made, the brown butter oats are brilliant and really up the flavour profile. These will definitely become a staple! Thank you!
Side note: mine needed to bake for close to 30 minutes (both times I made them). I kept them in the fridge for 24 hours before baking, and didn’t change the recipe at all. And mine flattened out, so that made me happy. They tasted great, but not sure why I had to double the bake time?
Hi! This could be an oven temp issue (they can be wildly variable!), I’d recommend getting an oven thermometer to know if your oven runs cold/hot 🙂 Hope this helps and glad you liked the recipe!
I just adore your recipes!
I recently found out I have to eat low histamine and there’s so much I can’t eat. I’ve had it in my mind to make a pistachio butter cookie- but it has to be gluten free and I refuse to eat sand. A bit ago, I saw your video for these and thought, “Brown butter oats!? GENUIS!”
I used this recipe as my base plan- subbed 1/2 the butter for pistachio butter. Used a combo of gluten free flours. I used fresh cherry instead of zucchini and added dates/pistachios instead of chocolate. Did a cinnamon/nutmeg/cardamon combo. OH MY WORD. They are dangerous. And totally crispy/chewy- not sand at all!
Thank you so much for this (and all your other) lovely inspiration. It’s especially awesome lately when there’s an idea I would have never thought of on my that helps with my new, v restricted diet. Like brown butter oats! I look forward to more amazing recipes from your kitchen.
Hi Justine! If I’m using thawed grated zucchini and they’re very watery, should I drain any of it or can I assume that it would hold the same water content as fresh zucchini? Thank you, so excited to make these!
Hi! I would squeeze it out a little, but not a ton, just to account for any frozen-wateryness!
Just saw Becky on Acre Homestead make these cookies and now going to bake our family some. Do you happen to know what the calorie count is? I know it is probably high but am curious. Thank you
Doing a quick mental tally it’s about 220 per cookie, I don’t really mind calories (they help me live!) but you can add the ingredients to a calorie counting app to do the math!
Hey Justine, me again! I’ll preface this by saying that I was practicing baked baking. If you know what I mean. And turns out I was too impatient to wait on a reply last night and I went ahead and made the cookies with the thawed zucchini. I also used margarine since I’m allergic to dairy — definitely a mistake on my part. Oh well, that’s the way she goes. I’ve come here to inform any other vegan or dairy-free folks that you won’t get crispy edges and sticky insides without the butter. Instead… it’s kind of a breakfast cookie. Does that make sense? It’s just really pillowy and soft. Almost like an undercooked muffin top. I ended up trying to bake these for an extra 10 minutes as well, and it became clear that these were never really going to be cookies. You can’t beat brown butter. It’s irreplaceable. And you know what? Even though this was a bit of a fiasco (and entirely my fault), it still tasted great and I am still going to eat the whole thing. You had a great vision for these. I look forward to honouring one your recipes more faithfully soon!
I ran across this recipe and it looks so good, I’m going to make it right now. I just wanted to let you know that I read through all the comments and noted the suggestions to make sure they come out moist, flat and browned on the edges. One thing no one mentioned is altitude adjustment. I live at 7,000 feet and have had to use more moisture, less flour and a hotter oven for most baking so I will keep that in mind as I make these. I’ll let you know how it goes. What are your thoughts on high altitude? Thanks.
Delicious! I did cut back a bit on the sugar, so they were a bit more solid (my preference!). This also made them a more savoury sweet cookie, if that makes sense to anyone else other than me. Nutty, buttery, zucchini-y – just delicious.
Finally made these Justine. They weren’t sticky, even though I followed instructions to a T, but I’ve read all of the comments above so it’s probably a zucchini issue. Ha-ha! I’m not bothered because they tasted good, only crumbs left in the biscuit (sorry Australian here, cookie) jar. Just wanted to mention, I think they got better as the days passed- the 3 day od cookies were tastier than the day 1 ones. Anyway, thanks for another great recipe. Excited to try blueberry pistachio sugar cookies next. Also, can I buy your book in Australia?
p.s. I love your you tube videos. Your personality really shines through 🙂
In case anyone searches the comments for these subs: I made these INCREDIBLE cookies with vegan Mykonos oat milk butter and gluten-free Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour. Now truth be told, I’m positive REAL butter would put these over the top in terms of that rich nutty buttery goodness, and maybe mine didn’t have that precise crisp around the edges (tho still quite crispy-lacey!) but the oats foamed up real nice and everyone raved about the end result! I def used grams for everything and also let the dough sit overnight which I think helped the gluten-free flour get all happy with the wet zucchini. Thank you for sweatin over the perfection! I suck at baking but this recipe was so easy to follow! These will definitely be my go-to cookie now!
*Miyokos vegan butter! (Autocorrect 🙄)
Can you use a one to one gluten free flour as a flour replacement?
Absolutely, I love King Arthur’s or Bob’s Red Mill!
so so so good! everyone in the house loved them from my toddler to my very picky father in law. Thanks Justine!
This is such a nice compliment!! I’m so thrilled you liked them
Hi, I’m super excited to make these for an event I have tomorrow but unfortunately I don’t have a food scale / the time to pick one up. After reading the comments it seems like it’s pretty important but was wondering if you have any recommendation to measure the zucchini? I think it should be a little over a cup of grated zucchini (maybe 1.25 cups?) – not expecting mine to turn out like the photo since I don’t have a scale but saw these and can’t get them out of my head so I want to give it a shot!
Hello! I’d aim for 1 1/2 cups of grated zucchini, however if you want to be SUPER accurate, you can go to the grocery store and look at your receipt (usually they say how much you purchased by pound) to estimate how many ounces your zucchini is, and then portion it from there!
I saw this recipe a short while back and couldn’t get the idea out of my head so I had to try them out. My partner loves when I add some cardamom to chocolate chip cookies and I did that with these and they were heavenly! Nutty, savoury, salty, chocolatey the best of all the things, thank you!
So glad you liked them!!