No Sugar Added Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I promised you guys a new recipe, and a new recipe is what you are going to get. One of my high school volleyball coaches seems to have picked up on the fact that I love baking, and that I really love it when not-so-healthy recipes can be made healthy. Today's recipe is in the latter category, and as I am sure you were able to guess from the title - today's recipe is a cookie recipe!

The finished product

Like I said, my coach posted this no sugar added cookie recipe to Facebook last night. I have seen variations of this recipe while scrolling through Pinterest, but I have never given it a try. I did make a few adjustments to the original recipe, but that is because I didn't want an overwhelming banana flavor in my cookies, and because I wanted their firmness to resemble regular cookies at least a little bit! I went to the store last night to make sure I had all the necessary ingredients, and this is what you will need should you choose to recreate this recipe the way I did.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe banans
• 1 (large) spoonful almond butter
• 2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup almond milk (or any milk of your choice)
• Optional: 1/3 cup coconut
• Optional: 1/3 cup raisins
• Optional: handful of mini chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mash bananas in a large bowl

3. Stir in spoonful of almond butter

4. Stir in applesauce

5. Add oats and stir

6. Add milk and any optional ingredients

7. Add in vanilla and sprinkle in some cinnamon

8. Stir everything together really well and spoon cookies onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet

9. Bake for approximately 22 minutes

Yields: 18 cookies

Warning: spooning these cookies onto the cookie sheet is much easier said than done. These are not like regular cookies in that they form easily into balls. What I did with each spoonful was gently dropping it on the parchment paper and playing with it until it formed a circle(ish) shape.

These cookies ended up resembling my banana-oatmeal-almond butter muffins, with just a few minor differences. I had two before after lunch, and I really liked them. I see more of them in my future. In terms of how my recipe differs from the original recipe, I added in almond butter, coconut, and chocolate chips (because who doesn't want chocolate in their cookies?), in addition to omitting one of the bananas. I felt as though three bananas would leave me with an overwhelming banana taste. Don't get me wrong, I love bananas, but I  wasn't really feeling mushy cookies!

Also, for those of you out there who are hesitant about the addition of applesauce, don't be. I was hesitant about it because of all the sugar that is normally found in it, but using no sugar added applesauce quickly squashed that fear. And if you are hesitant to use it because you don't like applesauce (I'm with you - it's the texture!), don't worry about that either, because I promise you won't be able to taste it. It's used for baking purposes only.

So, if you have a sweet tooth, but don't want to completely wreck your healthy diet, give these cookies a try. They are easy to make, (somewhat) nutritious, and delicious - a winning combo in my book!