Banana Chocolate Chip Nut Butter Cookies {GF/Vegan}

Anyone else here guilty of eating raw cookie dough straight from the bowl?

I know I'm guilty!

Well, you can be sure you will want to eat the entire batch of these cookies
straight from the bowl. They are THAT good!

My toddler sat at the table and licked the bowl and spoon clean. That's my girl!

And I didn't feel a bit guilty about letting her eat lots of that cookie batter because
it is full of all sorts of healthy stuff. ;)

You're in for a treat...

Sweetened with ripe bananas.

Thickened and infused with nut butter goodness.

Gluten-free.

Vegan. No eggs, butter, or milk.

With a delicious combination of coconut and dark chocolate...

Is that drool on your chin? ;)

Anyways, you are going to love these cookies!
You won't regret making these. Your kids won't regret it.
The hubby won't regret it. Your waistline won't regret it.

It's really a win-win all around. ;)

Banana Chocolate Chip Nut Butter Cookies
{GF, Vegan}

Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 1 dozen cookies
Nutrition (per cookie):
Calories (107), Fat (7.5g), Carbs (9.4g), Protein (1.8g), Fiber (1.6g), Sugars (4.7g)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 large, very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 c. nut butter (I used a mix of homemade PB and almond butter)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. old-fashioned oats (use gluten-free oats)
• 1/4 c. almond flour (ground from raw almonds - can also use oat flour)
• 1/4 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• pinch salt
• pinch cinnamon
• 1/4 c. - 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips (vegan chocolate chips if you want a completely vegan cookie)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix together the mashed banana, nut butter, and vanilla extract. 
2. In a separate medium bowl, combine the oats, almond flour, shredded coconut, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. 
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and drop in spoonfuls onto a baking sheet sprayed lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes until the cookies have set and are no longer mushy.
5. Indulge (without any guilt!) :)

Note: Cookies will keep best in an airtight container in the fridge. Feel free to warm them up for a few seconds before enjoying! 

Dark Chocolate Banana Avocado Cookies

Okay, this is going to sound weird.

Really weird.

But you gotta hear me out!

I've been seeing pins on Pinterest for Chocolate Avocado Cookies.

That's right. Avocado!

I was instantly curious. 

Any baked good made with avocados had to be weird. And taste weird.

Avocados are for guacamole, not cookies.

Despite my reluctance to believe that cookies made with avocado could be palate-worthy,

I decided to try them! I'm one to try everything at least once.

Source

So I made these chocolate avocado cookies from The Smoothie Lover.

When they came out of the oven, I was thinking,

"Man, these better taste as good as they smell!" Haha.

Well, I ate one a few minutes after they came out of the oven 

and it was pretty good, but not the greatest.

Then I realized the recipe recommended refrigerating the cookies 

before eating them, so I did just that.

I waited, and waited, and waited. 

But boy, was it worth it! The chilled cookies were SO good!

The texture is definitely not the same as your ordinary cookie. 

They are thinner, more dense, and more moist compared to your average cookie,

but the flavor is amazing! I was pretty impressed.

They were chocolatey and riddled with bits of delicious dark chocolate chips.

These cookies inspired me to try my own version of chocolate avocado cookies,

but I wanted to make them a little different, so I added...

Bananas!

Yep, it doesn't get much stranger than a banana-avocado cookie. 

But I was determined to make it work.

I tried it once, and the texture just wasn't quite right. They were super gooey.

The not-so-great kind of gooey.

So I tried again, and my Dark Chocolate Banana-Avocado Cookies were born!

Dark Chocolate Banana Avocado Cookies

Inspired by: The Smoothie Lover and Sprint 2 the Table

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 1 dozen cookies

Nutrition (per cookie):

Calories (81), Fat (3.1g), Carbs (12.2g), Fiber (2.1g), Sugars (6.9g), Protein (2.3g)

High in Vitamin B6 and Fiber

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. raw honey
• 1/4 c. ripe, mashed avocado (about 1/2 a large avocado)
• 1/4 c. very ripe, mashed banana (about 1/2 medium banana)
• 5 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
• 5 Tbsp. dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2-3 Tbsp. miniature dark chocolate chips (or any kind of chocolate chip you have on hand!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. 
2. In large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, and honey. Add mashed avocado and banana and mix well. 
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir well to combine. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet in 1 heaping Tbsp. per cookie. Bake in oven for about 8 minutes or until the cookies appear set and are not "shiny" anymore (see picture below).
5. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 15 minutes and then transfer them to cooling rack. If you try to transfer them when the cookies are still really warm, they will fall apart.
6. Place the cookie-filled cooling rack in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes until the cookies are chilled.
7. Enjoy with a tall glass of chilled milk!

Cheers! :)

What surprisingly delicious foods have you tried?