Skinny Oatmeal Cookies (Trick Your Kids & Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth)

I don’t know what it is about oatmeal cookies that makes me cave. I can muster up some strong discipline when it comes to food, but when oatmeal or oatmeal raisin cookies are near, it is almost impossible to resist. They aren’t just good, they are “baked comfort.” Over the holidays our house was brimming with all types of cookies (holiday standard) and everyone was eating them with abandon, including my 20 month old who would yell “Big Cookie! Gimmie big cookie please mama,” after his first bite of dinner. This was not good. I didn’t want him getting used to having a ton of sugar after every meal. Little ones’ brains are even more sensitively hard-wired than adults to crave sugar if given to them often. So I started experimenting to make a cookie that would satisfy my cravings for oatmeal cookies and (lovingly) trick my son into thinking he was eating a “dessert” but it was actually healthy for him.

Skinny Oatmeal Cookies – Flour Free | Dairy Free | Gluten Free** | Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (smooth kind)
• 1/3 cup reduced fat, unsweetened finely-shredded coconut (Let’s Do Organic)
• 3 Tbs coconut sugar (Trader Joes)
• 1/4 cup egg-whites
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

Even though we are using coconut sugar and dehydrated coconut, the cookies will not have much of a coconut taste. The dehydrated coconut adds bulk and crunch, but mostly takes on flavor of what it is being cooked with since the dehydration has removed some of the fat. Coconut sugar doesn’t taste like coconut at all. For those of you who read my recipes, I use coconut sugar often because it is minimally processed and has an amazing aroma. It is derived from the flower nectar of coconut trees, not coconuts, so no coconut taste.

Directions: Pre-heat over to 400. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. Combine the oats, dehydrated coconut, coconut sugar and cinnamon. Next, add in applesauce and eggwhites. Mash and add bananas. Mix well. Scoop Tablespoon sized amounts of cookie dough onto your cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes. The cookies will be browned on top will have a dense and cake-like consistency. They actually taste the best slightly warm, so when eating them the next day, put them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.

As you can see, my toughest critic approves.

**Note: Oats are naturally gluten free, but they are often processed close to wheat so there could be some cross-contamination. If you have celiac disease use certified gluten-free oats.

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