Monkey Bites (Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Christmas cookies are a tradition at my house – and yours too, I’m sure.  My Dad lives for Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies.  My favorites are peanut butter, with or without jam thumbprints and crushed walnuts.  When I worked outside the home, I made dozens of cookies each year for Christmas, sharing them with co-workers and other friends and family.  Now that I am home with my girls, I have to be much more careful – I can’t have all those cookies around, since I don’t have anywhere reliable to offload them, and I DON’T want to eat them all myself!  So I am committed to striking a balance between festivity and nutrition.  Enter:  Monkey Bites!

These cookies have all the flavor (and more!) of your typical chocolate chip cookie, but instead of being filled with flour and sugar, you get bananas and oats.  These are soft cookies, and I keep them in the fridge when I’m done.  But the best part of Monkey Bites is that they use three of these:

So if you are looking for a healthier chocolate chip cookie (or you have a few squishy bananas to contend with), try these Monkey Bites.  And feel free to customize:  butterscotch or peanut butter chips would be delicious, or add dried cranberries or cherries to pair nicely with the chocolate chips.  The sky is the limit!

Monkey Bites

Ingredients:

• 3 overripe bananas
• 2 cups oats
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup (or about half a bag) of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet or use a Silpat liner.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients, mixing well.
3. Using a spoon and fork, scoop up a largish tablespoon of cookie dough and place on baking sheet.  You’re going to have to mold it into shape, because these don’t spread.  Mine are about 2″ in diameter and about 1/4″ high.  Try to make them a uniform size so they bake evenly.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  You want them to be firm, and the chocolate chips should be starting to melt.  These are soft cookies but you don’t want them squishy.  Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then store covered in the fridge.  You can put them in a toaster oven to warm them and crisp them up a little.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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