Healthful Double Chocolate Cookies
A nut-free (school-friendly), double chocolate version of one of the most popular cookies on my site. Made with a banana-batter, shredded coconut, dark chocolate chunks, and oats. Butter-less, flour-less, egg-less, and potentially sugar-less cookies make great after school, travel, or post-workout treats.
A lot of people have baked these cookies over the past decade. People love them because they're free of any added refined sugar, egg-free, no butter, and gluten-free. They're studded with generously with chocolate, and they're fantastic. The number one question related to them is how to make them nut-free - so kids can take them to school. I took a trip to Tucson last week (I'll post the video soon :), and took the opportunity to remix the recipe. The originals are favorite travel snacks, and I was confident that experimenting with a chocolate version wouldn't be a bad idea. The new version is double chocolate (chips and cacao), and made with crushed sunflower seeds, in place of almond meal. Enjoy! -h
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Healthful Double Chocolate Cookies
You can use unsweetened carob, or grain sweetened chocolate chips, or do what I did and chop a bar of 70% dark chocolate. You can make your own crushed sunflower seeds in a mortar and pestle or by in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with sunflower seed butter. Ground pepitas will also work in this recipe. And lastly, the coconut oil works beautifully here, just be sure to warm it a bit - enough that it is no longer solid, which makes it easier to incorporate into the bananas. If you have gluten allergies, seek out GF oats. You can watch a video of this recipe here.
- 2-3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/3 cup ground sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup cacao powder
- 1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.
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In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, sunflower seeds, cacao powder, shredded coconut, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 1 - 2 tablespoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 13 - 15 minutes. Until golden on the bottoms.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
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Comments
These double chocolate cookies are delicious! Followed the recipe exactly, except made them a bit smaller (more cookies!), used 1 cup of Enjoy Life dark chocolate chunks, flavour is great!
Recipe worked great. So yummy for that late afternoon chocolate craving. Thanks Heidi!
I love the addition of video to your already wonderful blog. You asked for recipe requests. Quinoa walnut cookies, spinach chop, pomegranate glazed eggplant with tempeh, miso curry delicate squash, to name just a few? Thank you.
Made them with cocoa nibs ground to make "powder." With the addition of dark chocolate, they're plenty sweet. Without chocolate, the bananas lend a very slight sweetness. I doubled the recipe and everything worked fine but a bit too salty (we're pretty low salt). Will make again.
Yum! I've just eaten three. Super fun to make with my 3-year-old, too! The mortar and pestle and banana-mashing steps were particularly thrilling. Oh, and my son says to tell you the chocolate chips were really good. ;)
Would another kind of oil work?
Wondering if pumpkin .or applesauce could be substituted, in reference to Betsy's question? I often trade out based on what's available and ripe at home.
I tripled checked the recipe, since there was no sweetener in these. I proceeded, thinking perhaps the 6 ounces of chocolate would compensate. These are good, but not quite sweet enough for us. I think they are worth tweaking to our tastes, and I will repeat with the addition of a bit of coconut or brown sugar!
These look amazing. I've made something similar without the sunflower seeds and with the addition of oat flour. I'll be trying these as soon as my bananas ripen!
Is there any substitute for the coconut? My other half is allergic to all nuts, plus coconut.
Is there a sub you recommend for coconut oil? Thanks.
Just wanted to stop in and say that I made these last night, and they are delicious. Super easy, too. Thanks!
I think my 2 year old son would love these! Do you think the dough would freeze ok?
HS: Hi Charlotte - yes, absolutely!
The cookies look big. Would it be a problem to make them a quarter of the size?
HS: Hi Kelsey, you can make them any size you like, just adjust the baking time accordingly - smaller cookies will bake a bit faster.
These look delicious! I'm excited to try them. Oh, and thank you so much for writing "healthful," not "healthy!" ;)
I can't do rolled oats - do you have any suggestions for a good substitute? Flour is fine for me!
HS: Hi Adda! - keep an eye out for other rolled grains - I've seen rolled quinoa, rolled rye, rolled barley, etc...
If my little is adverse to bananas or we may not have handy at the moment, what is a good substitute (no food allergies)?
HS: Hi Betsy, this one is a bit tricky because of the volume and consistency of the banana...I'll have to think on it a bit, but my sense is a swap might not work here. :/
Hi Heidi! I love this :) May I ask you what scoop number you use to make the cookies? Thanks!!
HS Thanks Laura - I think it's about 3 tablespoons-ish....
Can regular, unsweetened cocoa powder replace the cacao? What is the difference between the two?
HS: Hi Jessica, you can use whatever cocoa or cacao powder you like here.
Looks like my son might even eat those! If we prefer almond meal, how much of it to replace the crushed sunflower seed?
HS: Hi Susan! No problem, use the same amount - a straight swap.