Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies

October 8, 2013 by Alia 51 Comments

I’ve recently started to explore the idea of cutting refined sugar out of my family’s diet.  We don’t eat a lot of sugar, but it’s still there.  Frankly, my husband has already gone down this road and simply avoids sweet treats now, including the ones that I bake!  Hmph!

Cleaner Eating

My first foray into this world was with a recipe that I found on Pinterest.  Check out my Cleaner Eating Board here.

I chose to start this journey with Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies.  This a simple recipe that uses oats instead of flour and fruit instead of refined sugar.  There are actually quite a few variations of this recipe to be found.  I liked this one because it used apple sauce and I have a ton of that on hand!  You can see the original recipe here.

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies

Here’s a reprint of the recipe.  I followed it to the letter with no modifications.

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies Recipe:

(Makes 30 cookies) 

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a large bowl, then stir in remaining ingredients. Let batter stand for approximately 20 minutes, then drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Freezing Directions:
Cool completely, then place cookies in a freezer bag. Seal, label, and freeze.

 

These were so simple to make. I actually made them while holding my 9 month-old son on my hip.  (He refused to be put down that particular afternoon!)

The raw batter looked like this.

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies – The Batter

The baked cookies looked pretty similar!  They taste like chocolate covered bananas.  Frozen, they remind me of an ice cream treat.  My hubby loves them.  This recipe is a keeper!

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies