Healthy No-Bake Cookies

Happy “almost the weekend” day! I had a jam-packed day yesterday. Layla and I were up and on our run by 6:30 am. Then I worked all day, used a groupon to for a mani-pedi, stopped at Target for my last minute weekend trip necessities, made some dinner, packed my bags and made up a new recipe.

Sometimes I get asked how I come up with new recipes. There are three ways that I usually develop new recipes:

a. I obsessively search google images for the type of recipe that I want to make. I then choose the three recipes that look the best and morph them into my own new recipe.

b. A lot of the time I get inspired by a fellow blogger’s recipe, or one out of Bon Appetite or the Oregonian FoodDay section. Because I have a really hard time following a recipe, I usually make changes to it as I prepare the dish.

c. I get an urge to bake something sweet, look in the pantry at what I have on hand, mix something up and cross my fingers that it turns out.

 

They all sound so sophisticated and scientific, right? Not so much. Sometimes the recipes turn out, sometimes they go in the garbage. I have fun in the kitchen and that’s all that really counts. Which leads me to today’s kitchen experiment, No-Bake Cookies.

I needed to make some “easy to pack” cookies that did not involve the oven because it’s hot (85 degrees) in Portland today. For today’s new recipe I used all three methods mentioned above. First I googled “healthy no bake cookies” and came across Angela’s recipe. From there, I opened up my cupboard to see what I had to work with. This girl does not like driving to the store for baking ingredients, so I try to keep a well-stocked pantry. I’m pleased with how they turned out, but they aren’t perfect. Give me two more attempts and they will be. Third times a charm when it comes to my recipes.

 

Healthy No-Bake Cookies

Adapted from Oh She Glows

Makes 2 dozen cookies

1 cup gluten-free rolled oats

1 cup Enjoy Life Perkey’s Flax Crunch Cereal

1 cup trail mix

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Your choice: 2 Tablespoons chia seeds, 2 Tablespoons buckwheat, 2 Tablespoons raw sunflower seeds, 2 Tablespoons goji berries, etc.

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup almond butter

1 large banana, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of espresso powder

 

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt the chocolate chips with almond butter, stirring occasionally.

Once the chocolate has melted, add the mashed banana, vanilla and espresso powder.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Drop by tablespoons onto the cookie sheet.

Place the cookies in the freezer for an hour or two. Enjoy them straight from the freezer or let them thaw for 20 minutes first.

Let me know if you try them. I want to play around with this recipe a little more.

 

I’ll be MIA this weekend. I’m headed to Black Butte to celebrate my friend’s bachelorette weekend. I’m super excited to go and spend time with my girl friends. I hope that you have a great weekend and don’t forget to enter my Purebar Giveaway!!!