Chocolate Oat Cookies

 Our holiday away from home is over and yesterday joy of joys the new element for my oven was installed.

So late this afternoon Master O and I whipped up a batch of cookies for friends that are coming to visit tomorrow morning. One of the things I love about school holidays is catching up with friends and their children that you don't get to see very often.

On my search to find gluten free, sugar free and dairy free recipes I  came across this recipe. 

 You can use unsweetened carob, or grain sweetened chocolate chips, or do what I did and chop up 2/3 of a bar of  70% Coco or Cacao Chocolate (I chopped it up in the food processor).

You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with almond butter. 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.

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 (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside.

In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, 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 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a tray lined baking paper.

Bake for 14 minutes

This makes about 36 bite size cookies.