Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (Delicious, gluten-free, and sugar-free!)

I haven't seen a quicker and easier cookie recipe than this one for banana and oatmeal cookies . It's as easy to make as mashing the banana, mixing it with the oats and baking. Just as you read it, and you get some great healthy ( and gluten-free ) cookies. But since I personally like to make them more happy, I bring you the two versions of this recipe that are most successful at home. Of course, they incorporate chocolate: we are going to prepare " Oatmeal and chocolate cookies " and " Oatmeal, coconut and chocolate-covered cookies ". Which one do you think you will choose?

These cookies are very quick to prepare. Both the basic recipe I mentioned and these versions I'm bringing you today. And there is no healthier cookie, since they don't contain a hint of sugar , since we use the sweetness of the banana to sweeten them.

The original recipe, banana with oats, tastes delicious, but in my opinion you have to really like banana (because it doesn't have anything else, it's much more noticeable, since oats don't have much flavor...). I love them with chocolate, because it's intense, bitter, gives a lot of life to the oats and goes wonderfully with the banana flavor, which stops taking center stage.

I should tell you, just in case you were wondering, that two of my kids are not big fans of bananas (in fact, I'm being nice, they don't like them at all), but I didn't tell them that they had bananas in them and they devoured the cookies.

At the end of the post, I'll give you a couple of things I like to do when I make these cookies.

I'm going with my two recipes for Oatmeal Cookies, but you'll have to tell me which one you like best!

1) Recipe for Oatmeal, Banana and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana
• 90 gr of oat flakes (gluten-free, for gluten-free recipe)
• 45 gr of baking chocolate
• Half teaspoon of ginger
• (Optional) A tablespoon of agave syrup or honey*

*The spoonful of agave syrup is for its aroma, not because of the need to sweeten the cookies since they are already sweet with the banana.

De Buyer Perforated Baking Tray and Silicone Mat

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mash the banana using a fork or potato masher.
2. Add the oat flakes and mix until the mixture is homogeneous. If you think there is not enough oatmeal, you can add another tablespoon, but the mixture should be dominated by oats but with a mixture of banana.
3. Chop the chocolate using a chef's knife.
4. To the oat mixture, add the syrup (optional), ginger and chopped chocolate. Mix until combined.
5. Place a perforated baking tray on the baking sheet and, using a spoon and spatula, take small pieces of dough and shape them into biscuits on the tray. Make sure they are all the same size and thickness to ensure even baking. Continue until you finish the dough.
6. Preheat to 200ºC and place the tray in the oven, in the middle/upper part. You will see that they cook quickly, in about 10-12 minutes they will be golden and ready to enjoy.

Caractere Revol cups and plates

2) Recipes for Oatmeal, coconut and chocolate covered cookies

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana
• 90 gr of oat flakes (gluten-free, for gluten-free recipe)
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 tbsp La Tourongelle coconut oil
• For the topping: 50g baking chocolate and a couple of tablespoons of whipping or cooking cream.

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mash the banana using a fork or potato masher.
2. Add the oat flakes and mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
3. Add the shredded coconut and liquid coconut oil, and mix.
4. Shape the dough using a few spoons and place the cookies on a perforated baking tray (I used the Le Creuset pizza tray ).
5. Preheat the oven to 210ºC and bake for about 10 or 15 minutes, until you see that the oats have taken on a nice golden color.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the topping: put the chocolate and cream in a ramekin and heat in the microwave until melted. Mix and the topping is ready. Spoon a little chocolate on top of the coconut cookies.
8. Decorate them by sprinkling a little grated coconut on top.

Emile Henry Ramekin and Le Creuset Baking Pizza Base

Grades

• For those who are handy, you can easily make both recipes quickly: mix 2 bananas and 180 gr of oats, and when you have the homogeneous mixture, divide it into two parts. Mix one of them with the chopped chocolate; the other one with the flakes and coconut oil. They are all ready to bake!
• For the chocolate oatmeal cookies, before mixing with the banana, I sometimes pass the oats through a pan with a few tablespoons of honey, so that the oats are well impregnated, slightly caramelized and to obtain brighter and prettier cookies.
• Remember that the cookies should be of a similar size and thickness, so that they bake at the same time.
• If you make the oatmeal and coconut cookies, you can leave some of them without the chocolate coating, so you will have a variety of cookies. If you make them, you can decorate them with the shredded coconut to identify that they have coconut.

What an idea! How about making exactly the same cookies, but instead of banana, using baked apple or apple compote ? Make the compote, mix it with the oats and bake it... if you add a little chocolate or liven it up with cinnamon, the combination will be a total success.

These are perfect cookies for breakfast or to accompany a good cup of coffee. Are you up for it?