Recipe: Grain-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Craving something sweet? This recipe is a quick way to use ripe bananas, as well as other simple staples to create low-carb cookies. The bananas provide natural sweetness, as well as good nutrition (vitamin A, potassium and fiber), while dark chocolate’s antioxidants can help protect your cells.

Each cookie has 5 to 7 carbs, depending on the size of the cookie and the kind of chocolate chips used.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips, preferably 70% or greater cocoa content to get antioxidants
• 1/2 cup of chopped nuts or natural nut butter
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mash the bananas, then stir in the egg, chocolate chips, nuts or nut butter, salt and vanilla.
3. Grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil or avocado oil (or the spray versions) and spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of the batter onto the cookie sheet. Try to pile the batter; if it’s too runny, add 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed or chia seeds and mix. Let the batter sit for about five to 10 minutes until the flaxseed gelatinizes.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Allow the cookies to cool.

Ingredient health benefits

• Bananas: Potassium isn’t the only thing bananas are good for (although it’s certainly worth noting)! They also have vitamin B6, which supports a healthy metabolism and nervous system. And vitamin C, an antioxidant, suppresses chronic inflammation and helps your immune system thrive. Bananas are high in fiber as well, so your gut can do what it does best.
• Eggs: There’s a lot of nutrition in these round, little shells. Eating eggs is an easy and wallet-friendly way to get important nutrients into your diet — like vitamin A and lutein for healthy eyesight and vitamin B12 for happy blood and brain cells. Vitamin E promotes skin health and strengthens your immune system. But not all eggs are created equal! When you’re buying eggs in the grocery store, there are certain factors you may want to consider.
• Dark chocolate: Chocolate may not be the first thing on your mind when you think of nutritious foods, but dark chocolate’s benefits go beyond your taste buds. For starters, it’s full of flavanols. Flavanols are a type of flavonoid that supports your heart in a few ways, like regulating your cholesterol levels and lowering your blood pressure. Dark chocolate also has minerals like phosphorus, zinc and magnesium, and is surprisingly rich in fiber. And if you’ve ever felt better after eating some dark chocolate, you have polyphenols to thank for this, as they can lower your stress and improve your overall mood.
• Nuts: Like eggs, a lot of good things can come in these small, hard packages. Nuts are a good source of fiber, folate (vitamin B9) and heart-healthy unsaturated fat. Different nuts also have slightly different benefits. Walnuts, for example, are high in omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3s), while almonds have calcium and are rich in plant protein. No matter which nuts you choose to chop, you can’t go wrong!

Nutrition information (per serving)

Makes 12 cookies
Serving = 1 cookie

Calories: 50

Total fat: 2.5 g

Saturated fat: 1 g

Sodium: 20 mg

Total carbohydrates: 6.8 g

Fiber: 0.5 g

Sugar: 4.4 g

Protein: 1.7 g