First of all, thank you for your sweet comments yesterday regarding my move to Chicago. I’m so thankful for all of your support and wonderful recommendations; it means so much to me. Apparently many of you either live in Chicago or have lived in Chicago and absolutely love it. This gives me hope that I’ll love it too. Perhaps one day I’ll do an Ambitious Kitchen dinner and be able to meet some of my Chicago readers!
But before we talk dinner, we must discuss dessert. And I’m quite certain that today is a lovely day to bake up a batch of cookies. Especially if you happen to have bananas on hand!
The day before I left to head back to Minneapolis from Chicago, I made Tony these hearty banana chocolate chip cookies that basically taste like delicious banana bread. Two days later he texted me, “The banana bread cookies might be the best thing you’ve ever made.” Yes, I have officially won his heart.
I was actually quite surprised he loved them so much, particularly because the cookies are made with whole grains, coconut oil instead of butter and only 1/2 cup of brown sugar (or coconut sugar) in the entire recipe! I was expecting my sugar-loving boyfriend to say he was disappointed, but I’ve learned that when you can make anything taste like banana bread, men will love it.
These cookies are soft in the middle with a slightly crisp edge. They’re best when made with extra ripe bananas (the kinds with spots on them). They also get softer by the day, so if you like soft cookies, try them the next day and you’ll fall in love. If you prefer crisp, bake them for a minute or two longer and enjoy after they cool.
Either way, if you love banana bread cookies or muffins, I’m sure you’ll enjoy these. They’re a breeze to whip up, too! I’m quite certain you could do it in one bowl if it came down to it. You can also experiment by adding in 1/2 cup coconut flakes. I tried this in one of my batches and it was absolutely fabulous. If you’re a coconut lover, I highly recommend it.
Hope you love the cookies – be sure to tag your photos #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram so we can be baking friends! xo!
More healthy cookie recipes to try:
The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies You’ll Ever Eat
Healthier Flourless Monster Cookies
Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dank Coconut Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (made with coconut oil!)
Healthy Banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made with coconut oil instead of butter. These chewy, dairy free cookies taste exactly like banana bread!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 large extra ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 2/3 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
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In the bowl of an electric mixer beat coconut oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg until well combined, smooth and creamy. Keep mixer on low speed and add in mashed banana.
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Next add in all dry ingredients (except oats and chocolate chips); mixing until just combined.
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Gently fold in bowl oats and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
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Using a cookie scoop, drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes or until edges become golden brown. If your cookies are too thick for your liking, you can gently smoosh the dough down with the palm of your hand before baking. Makes about 20 cookies.
Recipe Notes
Cookies should be stored in a covered container and will get softer and more cake-like the following day after you bake them.
64 comments
these look dreamy! can’t wait to try!
Yum I adore banana bread and these cookies look amazing. Best if luck in Chicago what an exciting city to move to!
Thanks Sam!
Yum! These look delicious
Ohmygoshtheselookgood. I love baking with coconut oil…it adds such a nice subtle flavor and good for you, too! I can’t wait to make these. I see you’re moving to Chicago! I grew up four hours West of Chicago and then went to school there. You’ll LOVE it. Winters are brutal, but Spring, Summer, and Fall are pretty gorgeous. Congrats on the move!
I just happen to have a bunch of overly ripe bananas today! Can’t wait to try these!
I JUST froze a bunch of super ripe bananas that would have been perfect for these. Next time 🙂
I want 100 of these now!
Dairy-free deliciousness! Can’t wait to make these over the weekend.
P.S. Your Chicago reader rendezvous should start at EATaly’s Nutella Bar. 😉
These look fantastic! Perfect timing, as I was trying to decide what healthy treat I wanted to bake this weekend… 🙂
I am all over these! Such an awesome hiking cookie!
These sound great. Can I use overripe bananas that have been frozen?
These cookies look great! I hope you’ll enjoy living in Chicago. I’ve also recently moved to Chicago from Minnesota and I love it!
So many delicious things in one cookie, YUM!
Congrats on your move, Chicago is a wonderful city! Making these cookies tonight!!
Oh.my.goodness.Just made a batch with coconut sugar and I’m head over heels with those babies. You always have the best ideas. Thank you!!
I love the fact that these are healthy and perfect for this time of year. Congrats on the move! Best of luck 🙂
These sound great!
How many days do they stay fresh?
UGH these look perfect!!
Great recipe. Baking for a gluten free, nut free, grain free and dairy free client. Can I substitute coconut flour or oat flour for the whole wheat? If yes, what would be the substitution amount?
Love your recipes!
Hi Tracey! I’m sure you could sub, but I’m not sure how much, you’d have to experiment. I would say probably mostly oat flour and a tiny bit of coconut flour, I’m thinking no more than 1/4 cup.
That’s what I was thinking! Thanks Monique. I’ll let you know what happens.
Made these yesterday and they are super delicious!! Great recipe!!
I can’t stop making these! I was looking for something similar to a whole wheat chocolate chip banana bread recipe I made years ago and came onto your recipe. These are delicious fresh and they freeze really well, also! Thank you for sharing.
I made two batches of these treats today with minor modifications that included the addition of 1/2 t. cinnamon and 1/3 c. dried, unsweetened cherries. I also reduced the sugar to 1/3 c. So easy and so delish!
I loved this recipe!! I actually did one thing different. I put my oats into a blender and pushed the pulse button until it wasn’t completely flour, but it wasn’t the original texture of the oats. Right in the middle. I have actually blended my oats completely into a flour before for another recipe so I thought I would try the same concept. I’m not usually a fan of the normal oatmeal chunks and this was a great alternative. Turned out wonderful!!!
Has anyone tried these with a vegan egg option (e.g. flax or chia egg)? They look wonderful!
These. Now these are healthier cookies I can get behind. Holy cow. Added some rice crispies & unsweetened coconut. Used 68% choc pistoles (left over from Christmas) & very ripe bananas. These are fantastic & I feel good about handing one to my toddler. Thank you! Great recipe!
Hi, it’s important to use ripe bananas in this recipe. Unripe bananas won’t be so sweet and creamy. Sometimes it’s hard to buy really ripe bananas but it’s not a problem. Simply put your unripe bananas in the hot oven for about 10 min or until desired ripeness has been achieved.
These are absolutely DEVINE! I accidentally used 2/3 cup coconut sugar and thought they’d be too sweet, but they are perfect! With guitar deli 60% chocolate chips, omg. Thank you for this recipe! Definitely adding coconut next time. <3
I just made a batch of these cookies. I did not add any sugar, and used dark chocolate chips. Because I’m trying to cut down our sugar intake in the family and rely on natural sweetness. The cookies turned out to be great, my 4 year old just loved them. Will definitely save this recipe.
I made these they were so yum my son loved them… just wondering can I replace the chocolate chips with saltanas would they still turn out the same?
Hi, could I use normal whole wheat flour for the recipe?? Looks delicious!
Hi Marcela! Yes – they just might come out a bit more dense (but still delicious!)
Made these for a potluck today and they were a huge hit with both kids and adults! Mine did spread out quite a bit and didn’t need to flatten the dough. They were moist, soft and delicious!
Amazing! I’m glad they were adult and kiddo approved!
I made these cookies with minor modifications. I used Quaker oats and lightly toasted them. Instead of chocolate chips, I added dried cranberries. It came out so healthy and yummy. Both daddy and toddler loved them. Thanks so much.
Delicious! So glad they both enjoyed 🙂
I make these often and love them – great snack for road trips! Think agave could be substituted for brown sugar?
Amazing! I think that should work – let me know if you try it!
Love the recipe, super quick and healthy! Just wondering How long do these coonies stay out on tne counter for or should they be refrigerated?
I’m glad you love it! They should stay good for up to 5 days on the counter, or you can freeze them to keep for a few months 🙂
I made these yesterday. They are very good but little dry maybe because I used regular whole wheat and didn’t have white whole wheat…still good though for sure. I think next time I will use white whole wheat although with the whole wheat you do have more nutrition I think… Is there something i could have added to make them moist? Thanks for the recipe!! I did add raisins, dates and walnuts!!
I added 1/4 cup applesauce the next day… They are very good and we really love these. Next time I will use 1/2 whole wheat flour with 1/2 white whole wheat flour instead of all whole wheat, just to see the difference. But I do love these healthy banana bread type cookies and so did by boyfriend!!
Regular whole wheat flour is a bit more dense than white whole wheat, which is probably why! I would make sure your bananas were super ripe too 🙂 Love the addition of raisins, dates & walnuts.
These were wonderful! I have been trying to change my palette for baked goods by removing sugar from my recipes (bear with me!), with some exceptions. I kept the banana (a natural sweetener) and the chocolate chips and added cinnamon and nutmeg to compensate for the less sweet dimension. They turned out great! My family thinks so too. It’s amazing how subtle sweetness of fruit comes through when we focus on it. And those few moments when you bite into the chocolate chip are a scrumptious surprise.
Glad those swaps worked out for you, Julia! Perfect treat 🙂
best snack ever!
Thanks for this lovely recipe! Tried them and my kids loved it. It was filling snack. Next time will try reduce sugar a little.
So happy to hear that!
How much mashed banana in cups should I use?
Holy cow, these are so insanely delicious. And you are totally right- they’re even better the next day, they get ridiculously moist and almost pillowy?! Thank you so much for this beautiful recipe! <3
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
These really were a breeze to make and taste so good! I used coconut sugar as I didn’t have enough brown sugar abs they turned out great. I followed the recipe as directed otherwise. They smelled so good out of the oven and really did taste like little bites of banana bread.
I’m glad that worked out well! Such a great treat 🙂
These literally do taste like little bite-size pieces of banana bread. So good! The texture is a bit weird for cookies… it’s almost muffin-like. But the family were big fans and I wasn’t left with many to take home after the party 😉
I’m so happy you guys enjoyed them, Melinda!
Also, the recipe made 33 cookies for me
Just made these and half are gone already!!! I used all coconut sugar and followed the recipe as written. Super hearty and perfect for breakfast, bed time snack or school snack! Thanks!!!
YAY!! So happy to hear you’re loving these!
These are so fantastic. I don’t even like cookies that are “cakey”. They would be fantastic without chocolate chips too. In my last batch I added pecans. They are perfectly healthy and delicious. Thank you!
I should have rated this amazing recipe long ago. I cannot tell you enough how delicious these are. I have made these so many times I have lost count. They are great as a quick bite on the go and for long car rides. I have some ripe bananas so I am going to make these again today. So damned delicious!!
A wonderful recipe.. soft, cakey cookies which my children loved.. since they wanted it more chocolaty so I added a little unsweetened cocoa powder.. thanks
Aw yay! So happy everyone is loving this recipe 🙂