Chewy Apricot Coconut Dehydrator Cookies For Full GAPS

These apricot coconut cookies are sweet from dates and dried apricots, with peanut butter holding the fruit and coconut together. They finish chewy, with little coconut shreds through the dough. There is no flour, egg or added honey in the cookie mixture.

Make small balls, flatten them to about a quarter inch and arrange them close together without touching. The thickness matters more than making every cookie perfectly round. This version uses a dehydrator’s High setting for about six hours, after roughly twenty minutes of preparation.

We homeschool before I leave for second shift, so a recipe’s waiting time needs its own place in the day. Twenty minutes of preparation and six hours of drying are different jobs. Have the finished peanut butter ready first, then plan the processing, shaping and drying around the time you actually have.

Yield: About twenty-four small cookies
Preparation: About twenty minutes, with the peanut butter ready
Drying: About six hours on High
Total: About six hours and twenty minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted prepared homemade peanut butter
• 2 cups pitted dates without added syrup or sugar
• 1 cup soft dried apricots without additives
• About 1 cup plain, unsweetened shredded coconut, added to the dough’s consistency
• 1/2 teaspoon natural sea salt, only with unsalted peanut butter
• Up to 1/4 cup filtered water, added a tablespoon at a time if needed

Use the finished peanut butter as a measured ingredient. The linked preparation starts with whole peanuts and includes soaking, fermentation, cooking and grinding. Complete those steps beforehand. Leave out its optional salt if you want to use the half-teaspoon salt addition in this cookie recipe.

If your peanut butter is already salted, leave the cookie salt out. Stir the spread before measuring, and measure one cup of the completed butter. Do not add a cup of peanuts and expect the fruit processor step to turn them into the same ingredient.

The dates need to be pitted before processing. Check them as you measure rather than finding a hard pit after the blade starts. Use plain dried fruit, with dates and apricots listed as the ingredients rather than fruit coated in syrup or mixed with sweeteners.

The apricots should be soft enough to chop into the date mixture. If your home-dried apricots are very crisp, use three-quarters of a cup and soften them with one-quarter cup of warm water first. That is the apricot preparation option; the separate processing water is still added only if the dough needs it.

Shredded coconut helps give the sticky fruit paste enough body to shape. Start adding it gradually. You may need a little less than a cup or a little more, depending on the fruit and peanut butter. Stop when the dough holds together for rolling without becoming dry and crumbly.

Recommended Equipment

I use the Ninja BN801 kitchen system. Use its food-processor bowl and chopping blade for this thick fruit-and-peanut mixture. The eight-cup processor bowl is separate from the tall blender pitcher. Follow the bowl’s fill markings and process in portions if needed.

• Food processor with a chopping blade
• Spatula for scraping the bowl
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Dehydrator with a High setting and its compatible drying sheets
• A covered glass container for the cooled cookies

Have the drying sheets ready before the dough is mixed. Once the fruit, peanut butter and coconut come together, the next job is shaping and laying out the cookies. Leaving gaps between them is easier when the trays are already beside you.

How To Make Apricot Coconut Cookies

1. Pulse the pitted dates and soft dried apricots in the food processor until finely chopped.
2. Add the unsalted prepared peanut butter and sea salt. Process until the fruit and peanut butter form a cohesive paste.
3. Add the shredded coconut gradually, pulsing until the dough is firm enough to roll into balls. Use the amount needed for that texture.
4. If the dough becomes too dry to hold together, add filtered water one tablespoon at a time, using up to one-quarter cup.
5. Take walnut-sized portions, roll them into balls and flatten them to about one-quarter inch thick. Aim for about twenty-four small cookies.
6. Put the cookies on compatible dehydrator sheets, close together but not touching.
7. Dry on High for about six hours. The finished cookies should be chewy. Cool before putting them into a covered container in the refrigerator.

The fruit will begin as separate chopped pieces. Once the peanut butter joins it, the mixture should gather rather than scatter around the processor bowl. Stop the machine before scraping the sides so the fruit caught above the blade can join the rest.

After adding coconut, take out a small piece to check its texture. It should roll into a ball without falling apart. Flattening it should leave a little disk that stays together at the edges. A sticky paste that will not hold its shape needs more of the coconut adjustment; a crumbly mass needs the gradual water adjustment.

Add water by the tablespoon, then pulse and check again. One-quarter cup is the upper amount in this recipe, not an instruction to pour all of it into the processor. Extra water makes a different dough from the one you are trying to shape.

Keep the cookies close to one-quarter inch thick across the tray. A thick rounded center dries differently from a flat disk. There is no need to press decorative marks into them or coat them with extra coconut. The coconut is already part of the measured dough.

Expect a chewy cookie with visible coconut fibers and fruit sweetness behind the peanut flavor. The goal is not a brittle cracker. Let a cookie cool before judging its final texture, and keep the drying time separate from the preparation and cooling time.

Where These Fit On GAPS

These are Full GAPS treats after peanuts, dried fruit and coconut have been introduced. Dr. Natasha’s 2020 book includes apricots fresh or dried, dates without additives or syrup, and plain fresh or dried shredded coconut. Use those ingredient forms here.

The dates and apricots provide the sweetness. That means the recipe needs no added honey, but it does not make the cookies sugar-free. They are small sweet treats, rather than a replacement for the meals you normally prepare.

The linked homemade peanut butter uses cultured whey during its preparation. Cookies made with that spread carry the dairy ingredient, even though there is no separate milk or butter addition to the dough. If you need a dairy-free version, choose peanut butter made without dairy; GAPS allows pure peanut butter without additives once peanuts fit your diet.

Other properly prepared nut butter can replace the peanut butter, using the same cup measure. Its flavor and moisture can change how much coconut or water you need. Choose a butter made from a nut you have already introduced. This fruit-and-coconut recipe does not fit No-Plant GAPS, and the dried fruit does not make it a ketogenic snack.

Serving And Storage

Serve a small portion once the cookies have cooled. Their sweetness is concentrated in the dried fruit, so the walnut-sized starting portions are useful. You can put out a few cookies without setting out the whole batch.

Cool the cookies before closing them in a container, then keep them covered in the refrigerator. Letting a warm tray sit under a closed lid traps moisture. Pack the amount you want from the cooled batch and return the container to the fridge.

These stay chewy; six hours of drying is not a reason to expect a crisp biscuit. Keep their storage routine separate from dry pantry goods, especially when you use the homemade fermented peanut butter preparation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should The Cookies Be Crisp?

No. Aim for chewy cookies. The fruit paste and peanut butter give them a different texture from a baked flour cookie. Check one after cooling rather than trying to dry the entire batch until it snaps.

What If My Dehydrator Has Only A Temperature Dial?

This method uses a dehydrator labeled with a High setting. If your machine does not have that control, the oven option below gives you a stated temperature and time instead.

Can I Use The Oven?

Yes. Put the same flattened cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, close together without touching. Bake at 250°F for about one hour. That is the oven option for the same dough; the six-hour time on the card belongs to the dehydrator method.

Why Is My Dough Crumbling?

Add filtered water one tablespoon at a time and pulse between additions. Stop when the dough rolls and flattens without breaking apart. Do not add the whole quarter cup unless the mixture needs it.

Do I Add Salt If The Peanut Butter Is Salted?

No. The half-teaspoon salt addition is for unsalted peanut butter. Choose that option when making the linked homemade spread, or leave the cookie salt out when your spread already contains it.

More Full GAPS Sweet Snacks

For another treat that uses prepared peanut butter, try coconut peanut butter balls. Keep the separate homemade peanut butter recipe handy when preparing the ingredient for either snack.

The planned Sweet Snacks, GAPS Style course will cover snack preparation and clear ingredient and stage placement. Watch the WFLI shop for its release if you want more help making sweet snacks fit your family’s GAPS kitchen.