“Healthy” banana, coconut and chocolate oatmeal cookies

The word healthy is in brackets because one could argue that these are healthy. But compared to what I have made and what I am going to make in the future, these are healthy (of course if you scroll a bit further down you will notice that I have managed to “amend” the healthy side bit).

I wanted to make something sweet, but healthy, that will give a boost  of energy to my gym friends, before or after working out. Something that one can eat without feeling (too) guilty and won’t have to to spend 3 days on the treadmill to burn it off. I wouldn’t want them to think that I am sabotaging their “summer 2012 bikini/swimsuit” mission.

I am also trying to take into consideration this blog’s main judge, who, is not really fond of my attempts to sneak vegetables or “healthy stuff” into his diet (like this  and that). Since I can’t deny the fact that these fall into the “healthy stuff” category, I thought I could get away by camouflaging them a bit…

You see where I am going with these, right? I baked some of the cookies in my mini muffin pan, so I got some cookie-muffins, perfect as a base for a scoop of ice cream. The ice cream is unfortunately not home made. I feel shame just by writing it, but since I don’t have an ice cream maker we still buy it.

Anyway…. this is how I de-healthified (is there such a word, really?)  something relatively healthy….

Warning: this is not a sushi, so please don’t shove it in your mouth in one go, or you will get a brain-freeze (true story)

A few words about this recipe:

• it doesn’t contain any eggs, flour or sugar (wow!!! if you serve it with the ice cream you will make up for those ingredients though)
• the original recipe calls for virgin coconut oil, but if you can’t be bothered to look for it, you may use olive oil (but if you decide to use, make sure it says virgin and not regular, as the latter is not as good,as  they say)
• coconut oil is solid but in this (hot) weather it liquifies, so it will be easy for you to measure (either-wise just try to warm it a up a bit)
• you can make almond meal on your own,by pulsing almonds a few times in your blender or food processor, just make sure you don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with almond butter
• they are soft on the inside, resembling granola bars in a cookie form

either wise known as Nikki’s Healthy Cookie Recipe from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients
1 ½ cups well mashed ripe bananas , (about 3 large/330gram)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup coconut oil, barely warm – so it isn’t solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups (160grams) rolled oats
2/3 cup (76gram) almond meal
1/3 cup (25 gram) coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt (I omitted it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
170-200 grams dark chocolate chips or a bar chopped

Preheat the oven to 170C.

n 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 (I refrigerated it for 30 minutes)

Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size (I used a small ice cream scoop), a couple of centimeters apart, onto a parchment- lined baking sheet. (As I mentioned above, I also used my mini muffin pan for a batch).

Bake for 12 – 14 minutes, or as long as possible without burning the bottoms (it took mine approximately 14 minutes, but I like mine on the “golden brown side”)

Makes about 30+ bite-sized cookies (some were eaten before counting them)

Judges’ verdict: resident judge gave me a 7.5/ awaiting on others