It’s no secret that I love any excuse to celebrate a holiday…even if that holiday is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! PB cookies are one of my favorite cheats, but at 300 calories per cookie + over 20 grams of fat, they just aren’t on the meal plan. After some kitchen experiments and many failed attempts, I’ve found my favorite clean(er) peanut butter cookie recipe! Grab the kids and head to the kitchen to celebrate this fun holiday!
What you’ll need:
2 Ripe Bananas – Mashed (make sure they’re super ripe, with lots of browning spots)
1/3 C. Reduced Fat Peanut Butter
2/3 C. Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Tsp. Vanilla
Dash of Salt
1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 C. Quick Oats (I used Old Fashioned Oats this time, and they worked great!)
1/4 C. Dry Unsalted Peanuts
1/4 C. Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (if desired…but who wouldn’t?!)
How you’ll do it:
Set oven to 350 degrees. While oven is preheating, mash bananas and mix together all the wet ingredients – PB, applesauce, and vanilla – with the bananas. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon mixture on to parchment lined baking sheet and flatten just a bit with a fork. Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes, pull out, let cool, and enjoy!
Nutritional information per cookie (recipe makes 18 cookies): Calories: 121.1, protein: 4.1 g, carbs: 14.1 g, fiber: 2.1 g, fat: 6.3 g, sodium: 25.8 mg.
Xoxo,
Heidi
32 Responses
I made this with PB2. Was so good
did you make 1/3 cup of PB2 or did you just use 1/3 cup of the powder? Thanks!
Very delicious! Just made them. My kids loved them too. Thanks so much for sharing!
thank you for this , I am allergic to eggs ! This is perfect And what do you think of Paleo diet ?
Chris and Heidi are pretty partial to their carb cycling program, the same program they use on EWL. You can learn more about it here: https://heidipowell.net/9060. Check it out!
Thank you for sharing. Can I use course chopped pecans instead of peanuts? If so, how will that change the nutritional value?
From what I can figure out, using pecans will add about 5 calories/cookie. Enjoy!
When it asks for vanilla, is that vanilla extract? You can tell I’m not a baker lol. I can’t wait to try this recipe. I think my boys will love it. Always trying to find healthy snacks for them.
Yes, that’s vanilla extract. Enjoy!
These look great! I’ve never used mashed bananas in my baking – do the cookies have a strong banana taste? Thanks!
The PB cookies look yummy and healthy for you I am going to try to make them this weekend Love you Heidi I am 360 ponds trying to lose weight and I love my sweets this is perfect Thanks have a great weekend
Thank you for the recipe Ill have to make them, I’m always looking for yummy ideas to help with me trying to lose weight I hope you post more recipes
Just FYI: putting the bananas (in the skins) on a baking sheet and baking them at 300*F for 40 minutes will turn firm, unripe bananas into soft, ripe ones. Probably half that time would work for this recipe.
Full instructions here: http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-quickly-ripen-bananas-in-the-oven-for-lastminute-banana-bread-putting-tips-to-the-test-in-the-kitchn-201764
I’ve tried this several times and it never works for me! Wish it did! Does it actually turn out for you?
Yes! 🙂
I guess,instead of applesauce,you could also use almondmilk.
Probably not, actually. You’d want something as viscous as applesauce – almond milk is much too thin. I’m guessing that applesauce is an egg substitute in this case, as well as a natural sweetener. I would use more banana in place of the applesauce if you really needed to use something else. You could also probably use 2 eggs (1 large egg is about 1/4 cup, so you’d need 2 to replace 2/3 cup of applesauce), although that would change the calorie count and they’d be slightly less sweet.