Deliciously Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free, vegan, sugar and oil free) Healthy

Alright, so here’s the thing… Despite what my close friends may think, I don’t actually have a huge sweet tooth… Unless I haven’t been eating very much fruit. I used to basically never crave anything sweet, until I became a raw vegan. As a raw vegan, I ate huge amounts of fruit per day and I have never felt better! Well, those days are gone and I do fall short of eating as much fresh fruit as I would like to on most days.

Alas, I am left with random cookie cravings. Yes, a jump from fresh fruit to cookies; don’t judge me please!

Any-who, I really don’t like processed cookies very much… Unless I’m extremely hungry, then I’ll eat anything. So why eat something terrible if I don’t even truly enjoy it? And that my friends is why I make healthy cookies.

At the end of the day, I am one with the fact that cookies will get eaten. I just try to make sure that they are the right ones!

Please give these a try and let me know how it went! Your tummy and body will thank me later; I promise!

(As a side-note; most gluten free or vegan cookies still contain large amounts of sugar. So even though you’re avoiding gluten and dairy, you’re still really not eliminating the worst of it.)

INGREDIENTS:
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup natural, unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup natural, unsalted peanut butter
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups gluten free oats
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 pure, unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients with a fork and place on baking sheet in desired sizes. Bake for 20 mins. DONE!

Wasn’t that easy? Just wait until you try them!

Healthy, High Protein, Vegan, gluten, sugar and oil FREE Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter and Toasted Coconut Cookies! HURRAY!

Alright, so I was determined to make some amazingly healthy, vegan, gluten, sugar and oil/butter free cookies. Why, you may ponder? Because I think it’s a crying shame that humans everywhere are constantly being punished for eating delicious sweets. That’s right! The animals are punished to make them AND then our bodies are punished for eating them. It’s a vicious cycle really. The problem is that most healthy things tend to taste not-so-awesome. That’s where these delicious cookies come in!

Makes approx. 30 small-medium sized cookies
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups of gluten free oats
1 cup of crunchy, PURE peanut butter (try to make sure that the only ingredient listed on the jar is peanuts; i.e. NO other oils)
1 ripe banana
2 cups of dates (don’t forget to remove the seeds!)
1 cup of room-temperature coconut milk (use what’s left in a green smoothie! Don’t you throw that out!)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (as pure as possible [65% or higher])
Approx. 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Pinch of unrefined salt
*Note: if you find that your cookies are sticking to the baking sheet/parchment paper, try using the most invisible amount of coconut oil. Only use this if you have to, otherwise stick to cooking without lining the sheet with anything.

Step 1:
Blend/Process oats until they become a flour-like consistency.

Step 2:
Add the rest of the ingredients, EXCEPT for the chocolate chips and shredded coconut, and blend/process completely. This may take some stopping and scraping of the sides of your blender, however it will form a very gooey, thick dough.

Step 3:
Put the batter into a mixing bowl and fold in the chocolate chips.

Step 4:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Get a bowl of cold water and dip your hands in prior to rolling cookie dough into a ball, flattening it and placing onto the cookie sheet. This prevents the cookie batter from sticking to your hands. (It’s pretty sticky, so you’ll thank me later for this one.) Then, sprinkle a generous amount of shredded coconut onto each cookie and stick them in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure the coconut has been fully toasted before taking them out!

*Original Recipe was written on this blog: http://www.gluten-free-vegan-girl.com/2013/01/guilt-free-chunky-chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-cookies.html#comment-2234 please feel free to check her out, she has some truly amazing recipes!