High Fiber Prune Cookies with Oats + Flax
Looking for a high fiber cookie to help you, um, go? These incredibly delicious, cinnamon-scented prune cookies are filled with whole wheat flour, ground flax and rolled oats for 5 grams of soluble and insoluble fiber per cookie. Gut health dietitian designed, and so delicious you’ll be happy to eat one daily!
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I have a whole cookbook dedicated to gut health, called Good For Your Gut, so I’m no stranger to gut-friendly recipes. But this time, I wanted to create something that was truly functional: a little “bowel buddy” cookie for you to help fight constipation.
So you’re gonna have to trust me on this one, because I’ll admit that they are not the prettiest of cookies. They are, however, actually freaking delicious: loaded with richly flavoured prunes that melt into the cookies and plenty of chopped walnuts so they’ve got a very grown up, Mediterranean trail mix vibe.
Oh, they’re packed with 5 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein each!
How I designed these prune cookies for constipation
As a gut health dietitian, I was very mindful about the ingredients I selected for these cookies. I wanted a combination of soluble and insoluble fibre (from whole wheat, flax and oats) as well as elements that help promote bowel movements…and prunes are a classic choice because they contain both sorbitol and chlorogenic acid, two compounds that help promote motility and get that gut moving.
Something you should know before you make these – that the rest of the internet probably won’t tell you – is that sometimes, yes, adding a little fiber (and a LOT of water) to your diet is all you need to shift a sluggish gut.
BUT – and it’s a big but, ha – my over 15 years as a dietitian in practice have taught me that if you’re really backed up, you should never attempt to increase your fiber intake until you clear things out FIRST.
Because adding more fibre to a stopped gut is like adding more cars to a traffic bottleneck. So you need to talk to your doc or dietitian about how to get things moving BEFORE you start slowly increasing your fiber intake to keep things moving. I have a blog post for you, if you want to learn more about nutrition for constipation.
I recommend never adding more than 3-5g of fibre to your diet at a time, so eat just one cookie a day to start, with plenty of water. They’re very filling, so I recommend enjoying them at snack time, not with a meal. Or, you could eat them as breakfast with a constipation-friendly smoothie, like my cucumber + kiwi smoothie!
More wholesome, fiber-rich cookie ideas:
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Oil, not Butter
- Healthy Breakfast Cookies with Oats + Almond Flour
- Easy Vegan Monster Cookies
High Fiber Prune Cookies with Oats + Flax
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup ground flax
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup prunes, diced, TIP: store in refrigerator to make them easier to cut!
- 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- ½ cup soy milk, or another high protein milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup avocado or sunflower oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar and milk. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, flax, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, prunes and walnuts.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.
- With damp hands, scoop a generous tablespoon of batter, form into a ball and gently press to ½ inch thick on cookie sheet.
- Bake 12-14 minutes, the cookies will be soft, and the bottoms golden. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and remove to cool fully on wire rack.
23 Comments on “High Fiber Prune Cookies with Oats + Flax”
Hi there
These look delicious but, as a type one diabetic, I would prefer to use stevia as opposed to sugar in this recipe. Thoughts ?
I haven’t tested it myself, but if you have a 1:1 granulated stevia that typically works in your other recipes, you could try it. Please do let me know if you do! I am sure others have the question too.
These are good. How long will they keep?
So glad you like them! They keep easily on the counter for 3-4 days. I keep them loosely covered (a lid but not fully pressed into place). You could absolutely pop extras in the freezer.
Thanks for another great cookie recipe! Fruit and nuts…great combo!
Can you tell I grew up on cadbury fruit and nut bars, ha ha?
These are So Good! They are similar to Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, The edges got a nice little crisp to them and the inside is soft and chewy. I will definitely make these again. Great Recipe! Thank you
Oh my gosh, you’re so quick! So glad you like them…I really love the prune + walnut combo. Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review, I know folks are gonna be skeptical of this one ha ha so it will help them 🙂
They sound like a fabulous idea. Was wondering do you think you could use an avocado instead of avocado oil?
Hi Lauren,
I don’t think so…it’s already a very fiber-rich cookie and I feel like they really need the slip from the oil. It’s a pretty small amount of oil for 24 cookies!
Thank you 😊
as someone w/ gut issues, these sound great and i’m looking forward to trying them. i was wondering if i could swap a nut butter in for the oil to up the protein a bit. thanks
Hi Jacquie,
Each small cookie has 5g of protein already, I worry that swapping out the oil will make them way too heavy (they’re already so dense with fibre, fruit and nuts!).
They look Awesome! Can a person in CKD eat them, too?
Kidney nutrition is very technical, and unfortunately the last time I had experience was over a decade ago! So unfortunately I can’t say whether these will be right for you. Share the ingredients to your renal dietitian and she’ll give you the yay or nay 🙂
Could these be made Gluten Free and if so, what type of flour would you suggest? E.g. All purpose GF, almond flours, …
Hi Barb,
I haven’t tested these out with any alternative flours, so I can’t be sure…but an all purpose GF is typically a safe bet. The only issue is that they would be lower in fiber because whole wheat flour contributes to the fibre/prebiotic effect. If you’re willing to take a risk, almond flour is similar in fiber to whole wheat and I think there is enough flax in the cookies to hold the structure.
Please let me know what you try, as I am sure that others will have the same question!
IBS-C girl here, VERY grateful for recipes like these! More please? I will make these today and report back (…on the flavour, not the efficacy, that’s maybe TMI!) Thank you!
ha ha ha…I mean, I’m a dietitian so it’s never TMI but it is a recipe blog lol. Please let me know what you think of the plum walnut combo 🙂
Made these today and they are lovely!! I got a few more than 24 out of the batter, even with heaped tablespoons but that’s kind of great. I added a smidge of coffee powder because dates and coffee seem like best friends. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!!
dates and coffee ARE best friends…what a fun addition! So glad you like them.
Oh good! Another cookie recipe. Use regular oats not quick? Can I use olive oil? Thank you
regular oats, and olive oil no problem, as long as it’s not bitter because I think that plus the walnuts would be too much 🙂