Healthier Banana-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Oatmeal): A Guilt-Free Vegan Treat

Sometimes, even when you want to be eating healthy, you need a little something sweet and baked like these vegan Banana-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are from a recipe I pulled from Health magazine a while back and "found" the other day when I was looking through some recipe clippings. They are from Bethenny Frankel, who although I find somewhat annoying to watch and listen to on the Bravo channel, I will readily admit, makes a darn good vegan cookie.

There's no "java" in the cup--it's hot chocolate with coconut milk, but I had not used my old Starbucks mugs lately and they make me smile...

I did make a few changes to the recipe--adding some unsweetened coconut, a bit of wheat germ to add a few more nutrients, swapping out the raw sugar for some agave syrup I had in the pantry, and exchanging vanilla coconut milk for the soy milk. My changes are in red below.

Banana-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Coconut)

Adapted from Bethenny Frankel, Health Magazine 11/08

(Makes 16 Cookies)

Prep: 10 Minutes / Cook: 25 Minutes

1 cup oat flour

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raw sugar (I subbed 1/3 cup agave syrup)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain soy milk (I used vanilla coconut milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 ripe banana, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or other favorite nut

1/3 cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips (such as Tropical Source) (I used Enjoy Life vegan mini chips)

(I added 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut)

(I added 2 Tbsp wheat germ)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine first 6 ingredients (through sugar) in a bowl. Whisk together oil, soy milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; stir to combine. Fold in bananas, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough onto pan with a small ice-cream scoop. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown, turning baking sheet halfway through. Let cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Info: Calories 138; Fat 8g (sat 1g, mono 4g, poly 2g); cholesterol 0mg; protein 2g; carbohydrates 16g; sugars 9g; fiber 1g; iron 1mg; sodium 114mg; calcium 16mg.

Health Notes: Use this cookie base (minus the last 3 ingredients) as a blank canvas for other flavor variations. So instead of using bananas, walnuts, and chocolate chips, try one of the following:

• raisins and a pinch of cinnamon
• dried blueberries with raw sugar sprinkled on the cookies
• dried cranberries 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• slivered almonds and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Notes/Results: Soft, chewy and tender--like a cross between a cookie and a muffin. These are really good cookies, vegan or otherwise, and totally hit the spot for that sweet craving--especially with a cup of hot chocolate made with coconut milk. It's also a good "breakfast" cookie. ;-) I liked the changes I made--the cookies were not too sweet and the coconut and wheat germ added good texture. I did bake mine only about 19 minutes--as I like my cookies softer rather than brown and crispy. Frankel suggests using the basic dough as a canvass for different ingredients and I think they would be fun with some dried tropical fruit and the coconut, or maybe chunks of apple and cinnamon. A great little, not-so-guilty treat and one that I will make again.

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Happy Weekend!