Bananapalooza: Sugarless Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not sure if these qualify as cookies. They are crazy delicious and are kiiind of the same general idea.  The problem isn't even that these are pretty healthy. I think the texture is just not quite cookie-like. While I don't know whether they are cookies, I do know that I have already eaten more than a half dozen. teehee!  I also packed five into a little container for my post-yoga snack. The cookies have oats, bananas and almonds, so that is pretty much perfectly balances sugar, carbs, and protein. Like I said, perfect post-workout snack!

What's in these cookies? Really, I'm just going to first talk about what is NOT in the cookies.  No flour means you can feed these to your gluten free friends without hurting them (as long as you buy oats that aren't contaminated with flour). Also perfect for the egg-avoiders. Then the whole no-sugar thing is a HUGE plus for pretty much everyone except those who like diabetes. No worries: the cookies are still plenty sweet from the banana's natural sugars!

two seconds after turning off my camera, I shoved all of these in my mouth. easy clean-up!

To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Otherwise, grease a pan in whatever way you like.

In a medium bowl, combine:

• 2 ripe bananas mashed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 cup olive oil (or coconut oil, slightly warmed)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together:

• 1/3 cup almond meal* 
• 1/6 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• dash of nutmeg

Add the wet to the dry and mix together. Finally, throw in

• 3 oz chocolate chips or chunks 

or really, add as many as you want. Who am I to tell you what to do? Especially with chocolate.  Then, spoon the dough in little piles on the parchment paper. I had a tray with 3 rows and 4 columns of cookies and another mini tray with 5 cookies.  The yield is about one and a half dozen little baby cookies.  I adapted this recipe from poor girl (I think) and I actually halved it because I don't know what we'd do with 36 cookies. I might just explode with excitement.

*No almond meal? No problem.  Food process some almonds until they break up into little bits. I think this step took me about 5 seconds, so it really is no big deal. Plus, then I was inspired to make almond butter! But more on that later!