Healthy Cookies

Even though I thoroughly enjoy cooking, I’ve reached a point where recipes need to satisfy two important requirements: little clean up and little science-like exactness. The first one is obvious. Several months ago, my mom and I made a ‘healthy mac and cheese’ that used butternut squash. However, we used every dish and utensil I own to an unhealthy degree...and really, my two-year-old wasn’t fooled by the hidden veggies. The second requirement is more about my lack of perfectionism and the reality that I WILL NOT run out real quick with a 9 month old and a 2-year old to pick up some cardamon. If I don’t have ALL the ingredients, I’d still like to figure out a way to make something yummy out of a recipe...if I mis-measure slightly because I had an extra tablespoon of milk left in the gallon, then I’d like the recipe to be able to still be successful.

When it comes to baking, I try my best to find healthy alternatives for everyday treats. So, when I found the “Healthier Cookies” on pinterest, I thought it satisfied all my requirements above and I could even just whip up a batch during nap time (even though I like to bake with my kids, it was sunny and 75 degrees today...we had some outside plans for the afternoon). These cookies don’t contain any sugar, eggs, flour or butter. Instead, they are full of oats, nuts, bananas, dried fruit, etc. Hmm, makes me wonder how we define cookies...


Here’s what they looked like before heading into the oven:

So, of course I had to tweak the recipe a bit to allow for my ingredient short-comings (wrong kind of oatmeal, no allspice, used applesauce in place of one banana). After ten minutes of baking, the baby woke up with a fierce crankiness. Luckily it was short-lived and she was in the mood to be helpful as the cookies came out of the oven.




Hmmm...kind of look exactly the same as they did before going into the oven. I also added chocolate chips (it’s a cookie!). However, the addition of chocolate kept my littlest one from being a taste tester...the other taste tester was still sleeping...but not for long. He jumped out of bed at the prospect of cookies....

He took three bites and was done. The verdict: “I like it cookies. Need to play truck.” Okay, coming from the kid who won’t eat a lollipop and thinks a rice cake is the same as cake (I’m pretty sure he just gets excited about cookies because he really likes Cookie Monster). I’ll take it as a good sign. My husband ate three, I ate four. Yeah, I’d say we liked them.

I think I’ll make them again, but will keep looking for other healthy options. Don’t get me wrong, they were good, especially for a sugar-free treat, but not phenomenal. Of course, I think there comes a point where if it’s too healthy, how is it really a cookie? All in all, I think the BEST thing about making these cookies was that I got my camera of the shelf...and that I managed to capture the following photo of my little girl:

All messy and sleepy, but happy none-the-less, even if she couldn’t have a “cookie.” And that’s why I don’t like spending hours washing dishes.

-West Coast Mom