This weekend I went out to my dear friend Rachel’s house in Connecticut. Rachel is the “I run a half marathon for fun” type… you know the kind. She eats very clean, and is incredibly disciplined with her health. The subject of cookies came up (I’ll give you two guesses who started it), and I mentioned these cookies. The next thing I knew I was insisting that we make them, as Rachel is also the type to want to contribute to any social function she attends. Baking a batch of these would allow her to not only arrive bearing homemade cookies, but even share in the pleasure of eating of them. Cookies and health CAN coexist, folks.
Here’s the scoop: These are butter-less, flour-less, egg-less, and almost sugar-less cookies (the only sugar coming from the dark chocolate and bananas). Sounds just delicious right? Hello?
I could go into the ways that this cookie defies the odds. I could talk about the coconut hinting at the chewy texture of a macaroon and the bananas keeping the batter creamy and moist. I could describe the way the intensely bittersweet chocolate compliments the bananas’ mellow sweetness. I could give you a list of healthy cookie skeptics that these beauties have made believers.
But, I think most importantly, I wouldn’t share a recipe with you that didn’t really mean something to me. This one does, and soon it will for you.
HEALTHY BANANA OAT COOKIES WITH COCONUT AND DARK CHOCOLATE
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Yield: About 20-25 cookies
3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond flour (or oat flour)
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 – 7 ounces dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in the top third of the oven.
In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond or oat flour, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet.
Bake for 12 – 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect – just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.
*My Two Cents: I always store low-fat baked goods in the refrigerator to keep them from drying out. I suggest you do that with these, if they last that long.
If you want to use almond flour but cannot find it, simply grind almonds finely in a food processor or clean coffee grinder. That is all almond flour is.
Feel free to use regular, sweetened coconut flakes instead of the unsweetened ones called for here. Just be aware that you’ve upped the sugar content. If you’re okay with that, you should know that they taste even better that way! (No surprise there.)
These cookies sound perfect for my family!
Great! They’re healthy enough to make as often as your heart desires. Enjoy!
Can you freeze these guys?
Hi Hannah,
I haven’t kept them around long enough to do that, honesty, but I don’t foresee there being any problem with it at all. Let me know how it makes out, so I can answer the next inquiry with more wisdom!
I bet these would taste great with coconut oil instead of vegetable also! I have to try!
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I just made these and they are delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
These are fantastic! Cookies for breakfast- yum
I’d do shredded carrot and replace the chocolate chips with raisins. Shredded zucchini and drained pineapple would be good too!
What if I replaced the coconut with?? Any suggestions?
I’d go with shredded carrot, and add raisins in place of the chocolate chips. Zucchini and drained, grated pineapple would be good too!
what can you sub the coconut for??
thanks! :O)))
I just made these and substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil and they were delicious! I also added So Delicious coconut milk to thin them out when I added too many oats. My kids loved them. So great to find a recipe w/no sugar!
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How many calories do you think these bad boys have? Great recipe, by the way.
It’s a great one, isn’t it?
I found this breakdown for the recipe it is adapted from, the calories will be extremely close to this:
73 calories per cookie
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calories.asp?recipe=694765
These sound delicious. Can’t wait to make them. Has anyone ever sub dried cranberries for the chocolate chips?
That would be delicious. Raisins are also a natural for oats and banana, so play around with them!
These sound great!!I wonder if you could use coconut oil instead of the vegetable oil? I will be trying these soon for sure
Absolutely you can. In fact, the original recipe calls for that… i swapped the oils to make it more accessible. It’ll be delicious.
I really love to eat chocolates specially dark chocolate because they taste sweet and special. .”.”`
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Has anyone tried these with grain sweetened carob chips? thoughts?
I don’t fancy carob chips, personally, Colleen. I much prefer a dark chocolate chip.
If you do, though, these would bake up well for you with them.