This weekend has been a lot of fun having my parents visit.  The kids are absolutely wearing them out!  We mostly stayed at home and had a BBQ on Monday with lots of tasty food.  They leave tomorrow and we do a quick reset and get ready to cook at a BBQ contest this weekend!

Should be fun and exhausting.  Looking forward to the day we take it easy…maybe next month?  My mom-fail/chaos today comes courtesy of school picture day.  I forgot about it and I SENT MY SON TO PICTURE DAY IN A PURPLE GOONIES T-SHIRT.  You heard me right.  Also, I have about 6 loads of laundry I need to fold…. tomorrow.  I will fold it tomorrow.

I did manage to get some cookies made for us to snack on over the holiday weekend.  I wanted to call them breakfast cookies, because those seem to be trendy right now.  But really they are good any kind of day.  We did eat them for breakfast….and second breakfast, and elevensies, and so on and so forth.  They would be good without the white chocolate chips if you are going for zero refined sugar.  But, they were really yummy!

These cookies are a great snack cookie or breakfast cookie.  When you make them with a zero calorie sugar substitute they are really a pretty great snack!  They are fudgy and a little crumbly, too.  We use Swerve sugar substitute quite often in our baking, and they just released a brown sugar version that has me with all kind of recipes in my head and ideas to try.  (BBQ sauce is DEFINITELY on the list).  Swerve is made from Erythritol which is a naturally processed sugar alcohol  Read about the process HERE.  It has zero calories and does not effect blood glucose.  It sweetens well as a 1:1 substitute and has become a staple in our home.  Since we bake very mindfully these days, we justify the price due to the fact that we make a few things each month to enjoy but don’t go overboard with the sweets.

As with anything, use in moderation!

Also, this recipe can be easily made with regular sugar/brown sugar or coconut sugar!

We do also bake with coconut sugar and date sugar sometimes.  These sugars do act like sugar in the body (not like Erythritol), however they are said to have a lower glycemic effect and not spike blood sugar the way that refined cane sugar or corn syrup does.

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Banana Fudge Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 over-ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (we used Swerve from Thrive Market)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (we used Swerve)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs at room temp
• 1 cup gluten-free flour blend of choice
• 1/4 cup protein powder of choice (we like Vega chocolate)
• 3 cups Gluten-Free quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (we like Hershey’s Special Dark)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2-3/4 cup mini white chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients together with a fork or whisk.  In a separate, large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar or sugar substitute until well mixed.  Add bananas, eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Add dry ingredients to wet mixture about a cup at a time until mixed well and a sticky dough is formed.  Mix in the white chocolate chips (optional).

Scoop out with a small cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper.  Bake at 350º for 11-14 minutes or until set.  Let cool completely and ENJOY!

Makes about 36 small cookies

<3

Shannon