Here's to Fulfilling Promises

A short while ago (a very short while, this is only post four after all) I said I would post an original recipe which I did not steal - nay, borrow - from another blog. So here it is.


Yes, it is oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough, but also no, it is not just oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. When I first really got into baking as a hobby, I made primarily healthy stuff because my mom and brother are chronic exercisers, and biking on junk food is the most uncomfortable feeling. I adapted a lot of recipes by replacing butter with bananas and that sort of thing, and one thing led to another and then to healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I'll be honest with you though, dear readers, these don't taste like the sweet, gooey oatmeal cookies that are essentially butter meets sugar. These are chewy, banana-y, cinnamony, chocolatey-sweet little mounds of satisfaction. They are the lovechild born of a granola bar/cookie romance, and so I deem them granola cookies.


Granola Cookies
an original Table 7 recipe

3 over-ripe bananas (the browner, the better)
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash bananas in a big mixing bowl with a fork and mix in rolled oats and applesauce.
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon, stirring to combine.
4. Add pecans, coconut and chocolate chips.
5. At this point, you can either let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes or add about 1/4 cup of whole wheat or all purpose flour to make the dough stick together.
6. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten slightly with a fork (these cookies won't spread so feel free to place them right next to eachother).
7. Bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly browned.

These cookies are extremely versatile and pretty much impossible to mess up. You can replace the pecans, coconut and chocolate chips with whatever you want, and last time I made these, I used a little applesauce, yogurt and some milk instead of the 3/4 cup applesauce. You can add peanut butter. If you want them sweeter, you can add some honey or agave nectar or whatever. Seriously you guys, anything you want! (Just make sure your dough holds together so your cookies don't fall apart!)


Granted, they may not look like much, but they are DELICIOUS (if I may say so myself).