Foodie Files-- Gluten-Free Banana Oat Cookies (that also maybe have a little nutella in them too...)

I love eating healthy. I really do. But I also have this problem that seems to rear its head every time I eat anything healthy. Its called I love sugar. I also have the I love dessert and pastries and ice cream problem. Just not frosting, but that's beside the point. The point is that I crave super unhealthy things about 75% of the time, which makes my clean eating goals a little bit tricky.

I have a feeling I'm not alone in this.

So in light of this problem, I'm always on the lookout for creative ways to trick myself into thinking that I'm eating dessert when I'm actually not. Enter my newest concoction: banana oat cookies. The trick is having super ripe bananas. You wont even notice the lack of sugar. Tricky, tricky- right? I've also made a version of this recipe as muffins (or one giant single serve muffin...) but I'll save that for another day.

This little helper makes baking a lot more fun too ^^^


So the next time you need to lie to yourself about dessert, or if you have nothing else to do with the next 20 minutes- make these cookies.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats (make sure they're gluten free, if you're into that...)
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp raw honey (optional)
• 1 tbsp chocolate chips (I was out of chocolate chips so I substituted nutella, and I'm not mad about it.) 

- Preheat oven to 350 

- Blend oats in your blender/food processor till it has a flour-like consistency. I like mine a little bit more coarse, so I blended it less. 

- In a small bowl (or just throw them in the blender too), mash up the banana with a fork.

- Mix in the honey and cinnamon and fold in the chocolate chips/weakness of choice. 

- Drop in spoonfuls onto a baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes or until firm. 

There you have it! The dessert to end all desserts. I've made this recipe two or three times now and I LOVE them. They're quick and a heck of a lot healthier than a bowl of ice cream.

 Give them a try and let me know what you think!