The healthiest cookies I have ever baked

The healthiest cookies I have ever baked

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I don't bake cookies often. Just one simple reason - the quantity of butter that most cookie recipes ask for, totally intimidates me. But a few weeks ago, I was baking cookies for days in a row, starting with these unbelievably healthy flourless, butterless, eggless and almost sugarless cookies which I stumbled upon on 101cookbooks.


I adapted slightly, adding a little honey to sweeten them up a bit, as it was for the kids in the playgroup. The teacher wrote me a note saying they were delicious and no one wanted to share them with anyone. So much for the notion that nothing healthy can ever be delicious.


Thanks Nikki for sharing it with us butter-phobics via Heidi's blog. 

Oats - Banana - Almond - Chocolate cookies 
Makes around 3 dozen bite sized cookies
Time taken - under 30 minutes


Ingredients
3 bananas, peeled and mashed (riper, the better)
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/4 cup rice bran oil
2 cups oats ( I used Saffola brand)
1/4 cup almonds - roughly pulsed in mixer [if allergic to nuts, use 1/4 cup cornmeal instead]
1/3 cup scraped coconut, fresh or frozen (if frozen, microwave for 30 seconds to soften it)
4 tbsp of honey or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
150-200 grams of chocolate bar, chopped roughly [Morde or Selbourne is good]


Directions
Preheat oven at 175 Celsius.


In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas, vanilla extract and oil with a whisk.
In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients except the chocolate. 
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix until combined. 
Stir in the chocolate chunks at the end.


Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. If you have a smaller oven, bake in batches convenient to you.
Drop heaped teaspoon fulls of cookie dough keeping an inch of space between the cookies.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
These will be chewy when cooled. 


Notes
These make a perfect healthy snack for you or your kids. Also simple enough and non messy to bake together with young kids. 
The batch I sent to school, I skipped the almonds as some kids could be allergic to tree nuts. The cornmeal worked well in that. Another batch I baked with almonds, that had a beautiful flavour and crunch, to which I added almond extract.