Wait.
STOP THE PRESSES!
Kira and I had… wait for it… TWO DEAD BANANAS in the apartment this morning.
…
This might seem unimpressive, or rather unextraordinary, under normal people’s circumstances, but let me explain. It is ridiculously hard to keep us in bananas. Here’s the deal: we shop for foodstuffs on Sundays… and buy upwards of TEN BANANAS. For two people. And they usually last us until about Saturday… with no dead bananas leftover for baking purposes. Which is sad, as baked banana things are suuuuper tasty. But seriously. The amount of bananas consumed in the Nerdaerie is astounding. Potassium deficiency ain’t got nothin on us!
So. Since I discovered this bonanza of potassium-rich goodness sitting in our adorable hanging fruit basket, I decided that cookies needed to happen! Natch. Besides, cookies are more fun than thesising on a Saturday morning. (Even when the bunnies are helping out on the thesising front, cookies still win by a long shot…besides, then when I actually do buckle down and work, I have cookies to put in my thesis cup! ha.)
These cookies are, like a lot of my cookies, good for you! I love having snacky-type cookies around, so I feel like I’m getting nutritional benefits out of my dessert. Enter the banana cookie! Bananas: excellent source of potassium, fiber, and prebiotics for calcium absorption. Raw almond butter: mufas! (monounsaturated fatty acids: healthy fats), and cholesterol-lowering properties. Oats: whole grains! Cinnamon: helps control blood sugar spikes. Coconut: all kinds of good things, including good fats. PLUS, these cookies have no added sugar, are vegan (with vegan chocolate), and are friendly for those of my peeps dealing with genetically high cholesterol (which really doesn’t seem fair). These cookies have no cholesterol, so feel free to indulge :)
And besides all that goodness, these cookies are fab. Soft, and like Kira said, almost like a macaroon. Tasty, just like a Saturday morning should be! I may have start buying an extra bunch of bananas, just to let them spottify on me for baking purposes… too bad Kira and I would have to hide them from each other to keep them around longer than a few days!
Banana, Almond Butter and Oat Cookies
Adapted from A Full Measure of Happiness, here! I got 14 cookies. Of course, I put a Hayley-type spin on these…I’ll give you one guess. Yep. CHIA SEEDS! How did you know?!
Rustle up:
- 2 dead bananas (mine were spotty brown)
- 1/2 c nut butter (I used crunchy raw almond butter for these)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- very scant 1/4 c canola oil
- 1 heaping spoonful of unsweetened applesauce
- 2 c rolled oats
- 1/3 c shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1 tsp baking powder
- scant 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon (I think I would add more next time)
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/3 c chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350! Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
In a largeish bowl, mash up your banana, and then mix in nut butter, vanilla, and oil until thoroughly combined. In a smaller bowl, stir together oats, coconut, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and chia seeds. Mix dry into wet, and stir in chocolate chips (these are some low-maintenance cookies). Drop by the spoonful onto your cookie sheet: I crammed all of them onto one, since they don’t spread, and was able to fit 14. Bake for 12-14 minutes (I took mine out at 14ish), until lightly browned on the edges.
Eat. Feel virtuous :)
Wait...are those...cookies?! 
Ok, you’re making my mouth water!! Killer recipe Haylay!!!!! Keep up the great fun!
LYMI.
Make that Hayley…..Fat Fingers!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!
We will definitely have to make these. Almost automatic, and with lots of OATS!
Hey! These were absolutely yumtastic! My friends and I went to the Rocky Mountains this weekend for some mountain biking this, so I took these! the chia seeds really added a boost. One girl in our group was vegan and gluten free, so I just replaced a couple of the ingredients so I didn’t have to make a separate one just for her. I relaxed the oats with kasha (toasted buckwheat), and the chocolate chips with carob chips! Keep cooking!
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked them, and replacing ingredients is always one of my favorite things to do in a recipe :) Thanks for commenting!
I’ve just taken them out of the oven and they smell divine! I couldn’t wait to taste one and it was soooo good:) I replaced the oil with applesauce and was going to use chia seeds but in the end I forgot. I’m not a fan of cookies, but these are too good not to make again;) Thanks!
Yaayy!! I’m so glad you like them, and thanks for commenting! You should totally try them with chia seeds—chia gives the cookies little pockets of crunchy that are awesome. :)