Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a  very picky 5 year old who will eat about six foods, and they don't include any fruits or vegetables.  Anyone who has a child who is a picky eater will know it's like trying to pull teeth to get them to try anything that they don't like.  Actually, it's mission impossible.

So I'm always trying to find new ways to hide nutritious food within something he'll eat.  Like cookies.  I found this awesome recipe that I wanted to share because the cookies were really tasty, and the results I had while making them.

The ingredients are simple:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground flaxseed
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a fork, mash the bananas in a bowl.  Stir in oats, applesauce, chocolate chips, flaxseed and vanilla extract.  Mix well.  Drop by rounded spoonful onto a lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 mins.

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I actually blended the liquid ingredients with the mashed bananas first because it made it easier to really smooth out the bananas.  Then I added the oats and chocolate chips.  On my cookie sheet I used wax paper and this was a BAD IDEA!  The cookie bottoms stuck to the wax paper and I ended up leaving half the cookie behind.  On my next sheet, I sprayed with Pam and they came off smooth as glass.  Also, make sure you ventilate the place because the cooking bananas will smoke a little.

These cookies were delicious!  The chocolate chips were just sweet enough and the consistency was nice and chewy.  I love chewy cookies.  And I didn't feel that guilty for eating them!

The only draw back was my son didn't want to eat them because he said they smelled like pancakes.  When I reminded him he liked pancakes, he informed me that he didn't like pancake cookies.  Cookies, he said, should be round, flat and not bumpy (which these cookies are).   

(I'm not a nutritionist so I can't tell you the calories or the fat content, but I can tell you that these cookies disappeared by the end of the day between me and my boyfriend!)