Healthy Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips
I made these healthy banana cookies for the first time in 2012 when Bart and I were limiting ourselves to two desserts a week but we still wanted something a little sweet in the evening.
And I totally don’t count these as a dessert, chocolate chips notwithstanding.
A few weeks later, I made a batch for the toddler music group I hosted every week at my house and they got scarfed up.
I even tossed around the words “no sugar added” and “gluten-free” and “vegan.”
I know, have you ever heard such unappetizing words? But I swear, these banana cookies are delicious (although if you’re expecting them to be a regular chocolate chip cookie? You may be a little disappointed).
Two of the other moms asked for the recipe on the spot and within 24 hours reported they’d already made them. Yes, the next day! Healthy food win.
Now I make these banana chocolate chip cookies as an afternoon snack for my girls and they’re always delighted to come home from school and find these waiting for them.
And then they pack the leftovers in their lunch.
They’re super simple to mix up and they’re packed with delicious and hearty ingredients like oats and coconut and almond flour (I just blend up some almonds in my Blendtec).
healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Healthy Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips
These healthy banana cookies are packed with delicious ingredients like oats, coconut, cinnamon and, of course, chocolate chips. The perfect snack!
Ingredients
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2/3 cup almond meal if you don't have almond meal, you can just pulse regular almonds in a blender or food processor until they arrive at a flour-y texture
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil at liquid state or melted butter although then they won't be vegan
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 and put your oven rack on the second row (so it'll be fairly high).
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Place oats, almond meal, coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and whisk well. Add bananas, vanilla and coconut oil and stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
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Place heaping spoonfuls (I use a medium cookie scoop) of dough on a cookie sheet and flatten them slightly with your finger (they won't bake down like regular cookies do, so if you want them more flat, which I always do, you'll need to make them the general shape you want them when they come out of the oven).
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Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly and eat all of them yourself because, hey, no added sugar.
Recipe Notes
(slightly adapted from 101 Cookbooks)
If you liked this banana cookies recipes, you might like these recipes too:
- Healthy No-Bake Cookies (I think they’re better than the original ones!)
- Double Chocolate Zucchini cookies
- The BEST banana muffin recipe (this is the most popular recipe on my whole site!)
Photos by Heather Mildenstein
Is it sad that I have not yet heard that song? Evidently I need to find a children's station on Pandora.
Yum! And I agree – these sound way too healthy to be considered dessert!
gluten-free, no sugar AND vegan?
I'm not so sure I can get on board this train…
chew-chew!!
🙂
I love that song. These look a lot like chocolate no-bakes 🙂 I'll have to try them!
I think we'll be making these soon since we're on the twice a week treats too and you said these don't count. FYI, I'm a vegan and love your blog!
Yum.
xox
Chocolate chips are vegan? I guess since I always eat milk chocolate it never occurred to me that they could be vegan. Those look pretty darn good.
I had C is for Cookie on vinyl when I was a kid. Oh god, I sound like a hipster flexing my Sesame Street Cred.
Chocolate chips can be vegan if they're dairy-free (most good dark chocolate chips are in my experience).
Eric's cousins are watching Ike for us on Thursday night, and I think this will be the perfect treat to take to them.
And not to be terribly pedantic, but many oats are not gluten-free because they are grown in fields very near wheat fields and are cross-contaminated. My friend who is a Celiac said you have to buy specially labeled gluten-free oats if you want to be safe. And even then, she eventually gave up because she had too many experiences with oats that had traces of wheat. I only throw that all in there in case you are ever making treats for somebody who needs gluten-free food. These cookies might not be the best. (And now I feel like such a know-it-all commenter.)
So we're sort of vegans. Vegans who eat meat. That is to say my littlest son has allergies to egg and milk (like epi-pen level allergies, not intolerances). Unfortunately he's also allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. So… do you think these would work with regular flour, subbed for the almond? Just curious.
Even though those words are basically curse words (sugar free and vegan), these look and sound really delicious!
mmm… i really think i need to buy some coconut oil. and 2 more ripe bananas. 🙂
I'm making these tomorrow. Oh yes!!
My kids love 'em. I used butter since I ran out of coconut oil. I also ground up almonds in my blender for the almond meal. And for half the batch I added 1/4 cup peanut butter just to see which one I liked better. I think I like it with the peanut butter a little bit better. Thanks! It's a winner at our house.
I'm definitely going to try these…I love banana and chocolate together! Where do you buy coconut oil? Is it just in any grocery store in the oil section?
Yes, my regular grocery store has it by the oils in the baking aisle. Or you can order it online from Amazon or pretty much anywhere.