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It’s a rainy, gloomy, kind of morning here in the Great Lakes State. The sort of day that makes you want to pull the blankets over your head and go back to bed. Unfortunately there’s a couple of obstacles to this delicious sounding idea, a) my 21-month old, and b) my job. Doh! So, on to other yummy coping mechanisms, like baking up a soft, warm, peanut-butter, and chocolate-y batch of secretly healthy cookies.

If you’ve been following Feeding Your Beauty for some time, you may have noticed I already have a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Well, today’s recipe is a horse of a different color. Now don’t get me wrong, I lurve my flour-free, date-paste sweetened Protein Power Peanut Butter Cookies, and highly recommend you try those too! Today’s version is a little quicker to make, as it doesn’t require making date paste ahead of time. It also requires less dates, less peanut butter, and no other sweetener, and yet they still taste incredible! All of the wet ingredients get churned together in the food processor and mixed in with the oat flour and whole rolled oats, which gives them a satisfying, chewy texture.

I went a little sugar crazy over the Easter holiday weekend, I’m not gonna lie. I blame a certain niece and her certain raspberry tarts (ahhhmazing). That, and my extremely weak willpower. I definitely have felt the need to clean up my diet this week, and cut back on the sweetened stuff. Since I know myself, and I know I can’t just swear off sweet treats for any considerable length of time (i.e. more than 12 hours), I knew I needed something I could nibble on that wouldn’t undermine my clean-eating efforts.

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies are made with wholesome, healthy ingredients like oats and nut butter, and sweetened only with dates and banana. The dark chocolate chips add a touch of sweet as well, but raisins would be a nice substitute. You could also try almond butter or sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. I will be trying that soon, and I’ll come back and add notes here to let you know how they turn out.

These cookies are so tempting, Little One just couldn’t resist nabbing one from my photo shoot and making a mad dash into the living room to gobble it up. I don’t know where she gets her sweet tooth.

I strongly encourage you to whip up these delicious and healthy cookies. They are a great snack, dessert, or even breakfast! And they sure do brighten up a gloomy day 🙂

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup medjool dates, packed (I like Nature’s Delights)

1 very ripe banana

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup gluten-free or regular old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup course ground gluten-free or regular old-fashioned rolled oats (just give them a 30 second spin in the food processor)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp + a pinch himalayan pink or sea salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. If your dates are hard, pour some hot water over them and allow them to soften for about 5 minutes.

2. In a food processor, add the first four ingredients (dates, banana, peanut butter, and vanilla). Process ingredients until very smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: oats, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

4. Add the contents of the food processor to the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Using a tablespoon, scoop out the dough and drop onto the prepared pan.

5. Bake the cookies for about 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for about 15 minutes before removing, they are a bit fragile while hot but hold together well once cooled. Enjoy!