Bake these delicious South African Crunchies oats cookies with your kids! It is easy to bake and makes a great snack for the lunchbox or with a cuppa!

This Crunchie oats cookies recipe is one of those recipes that I remember from my childhood in South Africa(PS: Find all our favourite South African Recipes HERE). My granny use to bake these quite often and so did my mom. It is really such a simple recipe and because you don’t have to roll it out or make shapes, and it does not take long to bake either.
You can also adjust it to be a bit more healthy. Swap out the syrup for honey and use your alternative sugar. You can even add raisins if you wish! It does not contain eggs, so it could be an easy recipe to turn vegan too!
Now onto the how-to. Mix all the dry ingredients together, except the bicarb.

Melt your butter and add it in. Lastly, dissolve the bicarb in a quarter of a cup of milk and add that to the mixture. It should be a crumbly mixture/batter.

Press the mixture down onto a cookie sheet.

Then bake your oats cookies for 15-20 minutes at 180’C. Tip: leave for another 5 minutes if you like your cookies really crunchy.

Simply cut into squares, or fingers if you prefer, and enjoy your South African Crunchies!

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Feel free to print the recipe below!
South African Crunchies Oats Cookies

Delicious South African Crunchies. An oats cookies recipe that is easy to bake with the kids and can be adapted to be healthier or vegan.
Ingredients
- 2 cups(500g) fine coconut
- 4 cups(1kg) rolled oats
- 1 cup(250g) all-purpose or cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups(375g) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon(2.5ml) salt
- 1 teaspoon(5ml) ground cinnamon
- 250g butter
- 3 tablespoons(45ml) golden syrup
- 2 teaspoons(10ml) bicarb of soda
- 1/4 cup(60ml) milk
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients, except the bicarb of soda.
- Melt the butter and add it.
- Dissolve the bicarb in the milk and add.
- Mix well.
- Press onto a cookie sheet.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180'C.
- Cut into squares or fingers once cooled down.
Notes
Leave to bake for another 5 minutes for more crunch.
For a healthier version substitute syrup for honey and sugar for your sugar alternative.
Vegan- use your vegan butter instead.
Sihle says
Just tried these and they are so delicious, just a bit too sweet but that’s a me problem. This recipe is perfect
Nadia van Zyl says
This is def the right amount of butter, been using this recipe as is my whole life and no complaints from other readers. It is a very crumbly mixture, just compress it into your baking tray well.
Noël says
Please help
250g of butter for such a large quantity of dry ingredients?
Doesnt work at all.
I’ve done half this mixture before and that was 250g of butter.
Please advise as I prefer the larger quantities
Nadia van Zyl says
I have not tried instant oats. The coconut is not sweetened.
Leah Sacks says
Can you use instant oats
Is the coconut sweareded