Peanut Butter & Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies
But wait – these are healthy. No really. They are made with oats, bananas, canola oil and just-peanuts peanut butter – and no sugar – all the sweetness comes from the over-ripe bananas. I had seen a recipe for Nikki’s Healthy Cookies over at 101 Cookbooks some time ago, and this afternoon upon flushing my lower kitchen cupboards (sounds much like an enema, doesn’t it? Seriously – you’d be amazed at what came outta there) to sort and consolidate the hundred or so bags of flours, grains, lentils, dried fruits and assorted weird ingredients, I decided I needed to make something using at least some of it. Plus I had three near-black bananas in the fruit bowl, W needed a wintery day project, and we were going to my Mom’s for dinner, and promised to bring cookies. And she’s diabetic. Now I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but all signs pointed to me making these.
The original recipe called for almond meal, which I didn’t have (and didn’t much feel like making out of whole almonds, although I easily could have) – it occurred to me that almond butter would do the trick, and then – of course – peanut butter to go with the banana! The all-nut nut butters are pretty dry anyway. I almost added an egg. And just a bit of sugar or honey. But I held off, and I’m glad I did – these are actually really good and held together very well. They are not very sweet, but definitely sweet enough for kids and diabetics, and even myself, which is surprising in my current chocolate-addicted state. My only regret is not using some of my Bernard Callebaut or Scharffen Berger chocolate stash, and opting instead to use up a (rather crappy) chocolate bar Mike bought for the low low price of $3 from a kid fundraising door to door. (On the wrapper was a cartoon guy in a canoe with the slogan “Tip a Canoe!” – how could it not be good quality chocolate?)
Peanut Butter & Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies
AuthorJulie
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl mash the bananas with the peanut butter, oil and vanilla. In another bowl stir together the oats, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients along with the chocolate and stir until combined.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, or one that is sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 12-14 minutes, until just set.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl mash the bananas with the peanut butter, oil and vanilla. In another bowl stir together the oats, coconut, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients along with the chocolate and stir until combined.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, or one that is sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 12-14 minutes, until just set.
Speaking of my overstuffed cupboards, I have decided to take a Thelma & Louise approach to this no-shop business. I believe it has been two weeks today, and I’m going to keep going. Not only because I feel like it hasn’t really been much of a challenge yet, but because it really has been refreshing to use some of this stuff up, rather than continue to stockpile it. I mean really – should I have to cram everything I buy into an already full freezer/cupboard/shelf? Something is wrong with this picture. I’m sure I’ve saved a ton of money, too.
One Year Ago: Honey Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Ganache
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Holy Sh*t girl. you weren’t kidding when you said you had alot of baggies with grain products! Love the kitchen shot. Feels like home. Cheers
I love the ‘flushing the cupboards’! Just did it last month and found some treasures.. But it always looks worse before it looks better.
I love this idea for cookies!
Now I just have to find a way to get 3 super ripe bananas. They rarely get that far around here. Maybe I could hide them…and not forget that I did!
We lasted a week on the no shop thing. I blogged about it on my blog – http://www.bignoises.wordpress.com
The best part is the money that we would have spent last week we are giving to our friend’s daughter to take her mission trip this summer.
Oh and speaking of chocolate….for years and I mean years we have gotten chocolate from dh’s family @ Christmas and for those same years we have said to them how much we both love DARK chocolate. What do we get from them each and every year…..MILK chocolate ….GRRRR
those looks so good! thick and chunky. mmm.
cheers,
*heather*
LOL! Was that after we left the other day!? My little ones trashed the place!!??
BTW, the cookies look amazing. Both Charlie and I are drooling over the pics. I’m trying to convince him to go out into the tundra and get some coconut.
That’s my kinda health food!
OMG, I just showed my husband the picture of the kitchen. I feel so much better! 🙂 I’ve made these cookies, but with pumpkin instead of banana. It works pretty good too!
My inner cheap-ass truly appreciates the anti-shopping concept.
I LOVE YOU JULIE…now I will never feel bad again when I’m going through my kitchen in order to clean and do some inventory of the stuff in there. I tend to go wacko and do it till the sun comes up kind of thing, and now I can see that we have something in common 🙂
I will be very busy in the sugar shack from now on so I won’t be baking much for the next month, sadly. Today, my husband and I, we snowshoeed for two hours, none stop, in order to verify every pipeline in the sugar bush for leeks. I love doing it, and at the same time, I super did my cardio :))
Thanks for the recipe, saved it on my dinnerwithjulie file.
Have a great week.
MFO
Oh, I need to do the no-shop thing – clean the kitchen and save money. I’m meal planning now so that should make it easier. Now, if only I could make it through the muck to our freezer.
That is a really healthy recipe! Will try it and think I’ll use chocolate chips. Should work fine, I hope?
Rose
I made them last night and used chocolate chips and they turned out fine. I probably would add some honey next time though…not quite sweet enough for me.
I am always buying a whole bunch of bananas on our once-a-week grocery trip, but we rarely have any by the end of the week, as we are a banana-a-day family. I will have to buy MORE this week to have some leftovers for this recipe! 🙂
Those cookies look delicious. you must have read my mind, because the other day, I kid you not, I was scouring my cookbooks for a banana cookie recipe. I have about 80 black bananas in my freezer, and I’ve been given a directive to use them up. I went with muffins in the end, but these look great, too!
I, too, have the 50 black bananas in the freezer and need a plan to use them. Especially with a diabetic in the house, muffins and bread are not on the menu anymore. This recipe will definitely help! THANKS!
You need to use very ripe bananas – their sweetness really matters here, so make sure they are nice and black!
I know what you mean about cupboards. My kitchen ones aren’t that bad (a couple are actually worse!) but my closet and dresser drawers make me wince.
I started to make these last night, but decided I didn’t want to wait for my black bananas to thaw. So I made chocolate cupcakes instead with chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups in them. I went from healthy to junk in 30 minutes.
Julie,
I just took my first pan of these cookies out of the oven and have eaten two already. They are indescribably good! I did not have any coconut and my bananas were very ripe, but not black, and they are still phenominal! I added a couple of tablespoons of toffee in them for fun, and I think that was a welcome addition. Thank you so much, as always, for another incredible recipe!!!
I just made a batch of these cookies, although I did add a touch of honey. My W has a real sweet tooth as you know and I thought I should sweeten them a bit if he is going to eat them at all :). They are really yummy and I have had 3 just off the pan!!
Julie – I’d love to get at your kitchen with some tupperware and my labeller! I just purged/organized my bedroom drawers and it is such a good feeling. I slept better knowing those drawers were tidy and organized. Good luck with the no shopping and clean-up. Keep at it.
I made these this afternoon with my boys. Very yummy. But I wasn’t prepared for the lack of crunchy/crispiness that I normally get when I make cookies. This is my first time making a cookie like this, and they were pretty soft. Should I bake them longer? They are staying together, and delicious, so I’m not complaining, just wondering.
Sorry I should have mentioned they are soft cookies. Most baking made with fruit purees have a cakey texture – the crispy/crunchiness of a cookie generally comes from the butter and sugar.
I made these with the Kraft light peanut butter I had in the cupboard and cut out most of the canola oil. And since I didn’t have coconut, I threw in a third of a cup of wheat germ (might as well take the healthy all the way). They worked out quite well, although they have a touch of a gluey consistency that may come from the processed peanut butter (not in the least bit dry, this stuff).
I’m running a contest right now for a peanut snack pack – who knows, there might be some peanut butter in the basket, too!
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/the-where-i-am-contest/
Yumola! I just made these with bananas that had been frozen, so very very moist, Kraft PB (all I had) and chocolate chips. I substituted more oatmeal for the coconut as I’m taking them to work and one of my colleagues has a thing about coconut. Long story short — they’re great. And, bonus, wheat free for another colleague who can’t eat most of the treats show up at work.
Everybody loved these at our house too!
I’m so happy to have a great flour-free/sugary-free cookie recipe.
THANKS.
once again.
made them today… a big hit with me and my hubby. 4.5 yr old wasn’t quite so sure… but he is just warming up to peanut butter again after a year long strike. They remind me of chocolate banana bread since they have a cakey texture… perfect for breakfast don’t you think? I know you like peanut butter on your chocolate banana bread, so I a not surprised by this recipe 🙂
THANK YOU! I love these cookies. I did not have any oats, but I added about 1 and 1/2 tsp. of flax seed meal, some agave nectar (1 tsp probably, but I eyeballed it), and about 3/4th of the called for canola oil. Perfect! Moist, just the right amount of sweetness, incorporates banana, chocolate & peanut butter! Yum!
Hi Julie,
Just made a batch with the kids after my husband (Yoni) sent me the link for the recipe – aside from asking for milk after the first bite, my kids loved them! I didn’t have the natural peanut butter (ran out), so used the light Kraft instead. Unbelievably moist, but also pretty sweet. Will definately try it with the natural stuff next time, but also wondering if you have ever tried substituting the oil for apple sauce? I think I might give this a try next time. Thanks for a great new recipe!
I haven’t tried substituting applesauce – when I do substitute fruit purees I like to go for something more nutrient-dense like pumpkin puree or even mashed banana – applesauce doesn’t really have much to it, nutritionally speaking.
Also, we don’t want to eliminate all fat from our diet – remember that canola oil is a healthy fat – mono and polyunsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids as well – it’s the kind we want to include more of in our diet! Removing it all and replacing it with applesauce in baked goods tends to make them gummy, and I’d imagine these would be no different.
Thanks Julie. I figure that there is plenty of “fat” in the peanut butter, and also plenty of calories, so will try substituting the oil with either pumpkin (still have some frozen from Halloween!) or applesauce and see how they turn out. Will keep you posted!
I just made these and they are really good. I used an extra teaspoon of Vanilla and some Nutmeg. I did use Godiva 80% Coco pressed chocolate. Looking forward to making these again.
I usually do not leave comments, but I did not like these cookies at all! I am not sure what I did wrong but they came out spongy and did not have a good flavor. Thanks for sharing and I love the pictures but would not try this recipe again I guess to each their own.
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I’m glad that I could do something during my time here to help them out and make the Mr’s tummy happy, too. We had talked casually about me making some peanut butter-banana cookies some days before this request, so I went in search of a quick recipe I could whip up. I found one that looked simple, and as I saw a bag of chocolate chunks in the pantry, I decided to throw some of those into the mix as well. Mr. T was pleased with the results, and that I had given in to his request at nearly 9 pm.
Can I freeze these cookies?