Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies don’t use any butter but are still incredibly moist, flavorful, & delicious. You won’t be able to eat just one!

As a mostly dessert blogger, I’ve tasted my fair share of desserts. Sugary, sweet, frosting-laden cakes, buttery croissants, cheesy breads, and candy filled confections have been part of my routine. Factor in being a college student, and I haven’t exactly been the healthiest eater of all time.

However, as I’ve experimented more and more with “healthier” baking – gluten-free, vegan, paleo, and sugar free desserts have all been featured on the blog – the more I’ve realized how tasty, healthier desserts are both possible and delicious. I’ve been trying hard to not just talk about trying to get healthy anymore, but actually doing it. It’s all about the margins people.

Still have those cookies that you can’t resist – but just have one, instead of three. Eat more vegetables than white pasta. I’ve been making minuscule changes in my eating routines, but I feel so much better, and healthier. I’ve always thought that fitspirational saying “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” was utter crap, because hello, chocolate cake tastes pretty darn good. But the truth is, healthy (not necessarily skinny), does feel really darn great.

Now, I am by no means in any way shape or form a nutritional expert or in any sort of place to be giving you advice about how to eat, except to eat well. Don’t deprive yourself of the things you love, just balance it out. Moderation, baby, moderation.

That said – I’m going to continue to post my usual sugary desserts, because we all need an indulgence sometimes and I know some of my readers cringe when I post a recipe with “GF, Paleo, SF” at the end of the title, but I also know some of my readers cringe when they read “three sticks unsalted butter” in the ingredient list. So, as in my life, Bakerita is becoming moderately healthy as well. For those of you anti-healthy baked goods on principle (hi, mom!), I encourage you to try these vegan blueberry muffins (who have many fans, check the comments!) or the dark chocolate, coconut & macadamia nut tart which is so ridiculously decadent you won’t believe it’s not full of cream, butter, and sugar.

These cookies are a bit of an “ease-in”. They still have sugar, but they use only a little bit of coconut oil as the fat and use whole-wheat flour instead of white, which is pretty much undetectable. The only difference I noticed in these versus a regular, full fat cookie is the lack of butter-y flavor, which can be fixed with a little bit of butter extract if you’re into that. I liked them just fine without though, as did everyone else who tasted them!

The banana doesn’t give much flavor, but it helps with the consistency that would otherwise have been affected from the lack of butter. The banana gives them a bit of extra moisture and helps keep them chewier for longer. Can’t argue with that! These cookies aren’t totally healthy, or totally bad for you, leaving them to be the perfect thing to help transition your tastebuds into healthier baking, or the perfect thing to give to your sweet-craving kid without feeling bad about feeding them purely unhealthy food.

And c’mon, they have chocolate chips. And as we know, chocolate makes everything better.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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• Author: Rachel Conners
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 12 minutes
• Total Time: 22 minutes
• Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup 4.25 oz. white whole wheat flour
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (solid)
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the coconut oil and the sugar on medium speed.
4. Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.
5. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Drop heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets, flattening each cookie slightly. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges. Do not over-bake these cookies!
8. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.