Monday, December 5, 2011

Nikki's Healthy Cookies Recipe


This recipe is for mouth-wateringly good "healthy" cookies. They are butter-less, flour-less, egg-less, and practically sugar-less; you might be thinking, what's the point? Well, they are actually quite scrumptious, I promise. The success of this recipe depends heavily on the quality and abundance of the chocolate; my suggestion is to get a nice chocolate bar ( I prefer dark) and chop it roughly into chunks. They are not a healthy substitution for regular chocolate chip cookies (which are impossible to replace), but rather an experience of their own. The texture is closer to that of a macaroon because of the coconut, but it is also dense from the banana. Using almond meal instead of flour transforms the character of the cookie altogether. But the result is absolutely delicious, and far less caloric than your average chocolate chip cookie. They're best fresh out of the oven, but also keep well (although I can't say that they've ever lasted long enough to truly test that out). They make excellent hiking snacks.

This recipe is from my favorite food blog, 101 cookbooks. I've made it for many a skeptic, and they've always been impressed. 101 cookbooks focus on healthy, natural foods, and it's an easy, fun source to use because the author, Heidi Swanson, has her entries indexed both by ingredient and season. Her food photography is stunning, and her recipes never fail to delight, and always focus on making fresh produce shine. She uses creative methods with healthy alternatives; the end product is always impressive in both its originality and tastiness.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Nikki's Healthy Cookies Recipe:

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In 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. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies.

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