Y'all know I am a total cookie monster. Doesn't matter if it's fresh out of the oven, or 5 days old, chocolate chip, or oatmeal, I love me some cookies. Even when I am satisfying my sweet tooth in a healthy way, I still want cookies. Or cupcakes, but that's a whole 'nother post. Basically, give me a baked good, and I'm a happy girl. I digress. Back to those healthy cookies.
I've been fighting a sweets craving something fierce lately while on this TIU bikini series, and while I applaud myself for my restraint, I am still dying for something sweet to take the edge off. Last week, I finally allowed myself to experiment with some healthy cookies in hopes I could find something that would satisfy the craving, while not dumping me off the wagon. These did great! Chocolate chips, peanut butter, the lovely mouth feel of the oats...not bad at all. I had to put the rest in the freezer to get them out of my sight so I wouldn't eat the entire batch ;)
Healthy peanut butter and banana oat cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups old fashioned oats
2 ripe bananas
1 cup peanut butter (I used Jif reduced fat)
1/2 cup apple sauce (I used one Gogo Squeeze pouch)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand chocolate chunks which are dairy, soy, nut free)
Directions:
Heat oven to 350F. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick spray.
In a stand mixer, mash bananas with peanut butter, apple sauce and vanilla until creamy. Add in oats until combined. Add in chocolate chips.
Use a small cookie scoop to place 1 inch balls of dough on your cookie sheets. Smash down slightly with a fork.
Bake for 15 minutes, and immediately transfer to a rack or onto a plate to cool.
I was able to make 50 small cookies, at 65 calories each.
And just try not eating the dough, it was delicious before even being baked!