Tasty Cookies

Looks good right? I made these cookies yesterday and my husband has ate ALL of them- he said it's probably his favorite cookie. This kind of surprised me b/c it is relatively a lot "better" for you then most cookies. You get your sugar fix from the bananas, chocolate and coconut oil that it requests.

I was a little intimidated at first b/c it calls for things like coconut oil & almond meal but these things were NOT hard to find at our grocery store. Of course Ithaca is a little "granola-ey" if you know what I mean so you might need to head out to the health food store if you're in Oklahoma.

This is a great "snack" to bring to someone's house- they are small little cookies too so you don't need to feel bad eating more then 1.

"Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe"

You can use unsweetened carob, or grain sweetened chocolate chips, or do what I did and chop up 2/3 of a bar of Scharffen berger 70%. I sort-of shaved half the bar with a knife and then cut the rest into bigger chip-sized chunks. You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with almond butter. And lastly, the coconut oil works beautifully here, just be sure to warm it a bit - enough that it is no longer solid, which makes it easier to incorporate into the bananas. If you have gluten allergies, seek out GF oats.

You will need:

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups) (I actually had to use 4 bananas to get 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.
In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/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.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.