Sunday, April 27, 2014

Healthy Banana Bread Cookies




Making banana bread is a perfect weekend activity, it uses ingredients on hand, it's comforting and it makes the house smell amazing. My house was a mess this weekend and I had zero desire to clean so I figured if I make banana bread the delicious smell will distract people from the mess! The only drawback to making banana bread is the guilt factor, so much sugar and butter... oy vey. Well, enter my solution, clean, healthy, banana bread cookies. Just 52 calories a piece, 2 grams protein, only 6 grams sugar, and all that good for you potassium. The cookies are not crunchy, they are moist and cake like. I used Stevia along with brown sugar to add sweetness. If you prefer not to use Stevia, you could just add more brown sugar. Stevia is a natural, calorie free sweetener derived from the stevia plant and thus considered "clean". I like it because it isn't filled with chemicals like some other calorie free sweeteners. Let me know how the cookies turn out for you!

Healthy Banana Bread Cookies 
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup organic rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon Stevia in the Raw (or use more brown sugar)
1/2 cup low fat yogurt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 345 degrees fahrenheit. Mix together dry ingredients, in a separate bowl blend bananas, yogurt and egg whites. 
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes until firm to the touch.
Enjoy!