Skinny Monkey Oats Cookies

If you have a couple of ripe bananas sitting on your counter and want something sweet but don't want to wait on a loaf of banana bread to bake then these cookies are for you! Loaded with banana, peanut butter and chocolate and a healthy treat, you won't be sorry you tried them out.

Skinny Monkey Oats Cookies
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 14 servings
Serving size: 3 cookies.

3 whole bananas
2 cups old fashioned oats
2 Tbsp reduced-fat creamy peanut butter
¼ cup dark chocolate chips
⅓ cup natural apple sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or lightly spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium size bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Stir in remaining ingredients.
3. Let batter stand for 15-20 minutes (this helps soften up the oats and will give the cookie a nice chew).
4. Using a teaspoon to scoop, drop batter onto cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Per Serving 3 cookies:

Calories: 105
Calories from fat: 29g
Fat: 3g
Saturated fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 0
Carbohydrates: 18g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 2g
Sugars: 6g
Sodium: 10mg

Source: skinnymom.com

Granola Cookie Wedges

Sometimes you just need a something sweet and sometimes that something sweet just needs to be a cookie.  Cookies in moderation are fine, but cookies that are a little healthier are even better!  Give these a try, they are fast and easy because you don't have to scoop out individual cookies and rotate through baking pans.  Throw the dough in one pan, one baking time and enjoy!

Granola Cookie Wedges
Makes 8 servings

1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 T canola oil
1 T butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large egg white
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 T semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first 7 ingredients (through egg white) in a large bowl; stir until well combined. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add flour, oats, nuts and chocolate chips to sugar mixture; stir until just combined.

Scrape the dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate coated with cooking spray and spread to edges using a spatula. Bake for 13 minutes or until set. Cool slightly on a wire rack.  Cut into 8 wedges.

Per serving: 168 calories, 8.6g fat, 2.5g protein, 1.3g fiber

Recipe from Cooking Light

Healthified Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

Breakfast really is the most important meal of your day.  When I was in college I took a nutrition class and the professor was talking about how important breakfast was and asked how many of us had eaten breakfast that morning.  I was one of the few people that raised my hand.  The teacher was not happy that so many had not eaten breakfast!  She taught us about how our brains need food first thing in the morning, that they do not function properly and at their full capacity if we do not give them much needed nutrients in the morning.  She challenged us to not think of it as eating breakfast but to think of it as feeding our brain.  Every class after that she would ask for a raise of hands to see who had "fed their brain" that morning.  That has always stuck with me, I know I feel so much better and can function so much better when I make sure to eat something healthy for breakfast even when I am short on time.  Studies have also shown that those people who eat breakfast eat less during the day, their total caloric intake for the day is lower than those who do not eat breakfast.  So if you are wanting to lose some weight then you need to eat breakfast! 

I know time is a major factor so whip up a batch of these cookies.  They are delicious and healthy and filling!  You can put them in individually wrapped in your freezer so you can grab one on your way out the door.  The will defrost as you drive to work or school.  Give them a try!

Healthified Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)

1/2 cup chunky natural peanut butter (unsalted and unsweetened)

1/2 cup honey

1teaspoon vanilla

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together banana, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine oats, flour, milk powder, cinnamon, and baking soda. Stir the oat mixture into the banana mixture until combined. Stir in dried cranberries.

Using a ¼-cup measure, drop mounds of dough 3 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. With a thin metal or small plastic spatula dipped in water, flatten and spread each mound of dough to a 2¾-inch round, about ½ inch thick.

Bake, one sheet at a time, for 14 to 16 minutes or until browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months; thaw before serving.

 Serving Size: 1 Cookie
Calories: 220
Fat: 7g
Sodium: 35 mg
Sugars: 22g  

Healthified Double-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

As hard as I try to be healthy my weaknesses are for cookies and chocolate.  This great recipe gives you both of those and is healthified so you don't have to feel guilty indulging!

Double-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup Yoplait 99% fat-free creamy vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips or white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350.  In large bowl, mix sugar, butter, yogurt, egg and vanilla.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched.  Immediately remove from cookie sheet.

Courtesy Eat Better America

Chocolate Emergency Cookies

(This isn't a typical post, as this is a HEALTHY BLOG...But we get that it is the Christmas Season, so you need some alternatives to the high cal offerings.)
from Spark People website:


These cookies taste like the corner of the brownie pan, but in controlled portions!

INGREDIENTS
6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (can use dark chocolate), broke into large pieces
1 stick unsalted butter, softened and divided
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


DIRECTIONS
1. Melt chocolates and 1/2 stick butter in microwave. Cool briefly.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat 1/2 stick butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until the consistancy of wet sand.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix.
5. Mix in chocolate mixture, beating only until combined.
6. Stir in flour mixture, only until combined.
7. Chill for 1 hour.
8. Dip out with an ice cream scoop (I use a 4 teaspoon cookie dipper) onto a greased cookie sheet.
9. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Do not over bake.
10. Cool 2 minutes on pan before moving to cooling racks.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 48
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 102.5

• Total Fat: 4.3 g
• Cholesterol: 17.9 mg
• Sodium: 67.2 mg
• Total Carbs: 16.0 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.8 g
• Protein: 1.4 g