The Chocolate Fig

This past Saturday, I spent a large portion of the daylight at the Menlo Charity Horse Show. This is somewhat of an end-of-summer tradition for me, where I can visit with old friends, watch the action and practice my photo skills. Most of you may not know that horses have played a big part in my life. I rode competitively for 9 years, and we currently keep three horses in our back-yard barn. Although riding and showing is now a thing of my past, I still enjoy it from the sidelines as a spectator.

a really beautiful pup

Naturally, to fuel my day I needed to have something really healthy and delicious. And if you haven't already figured it out, these two go hand-in-hand when I'm in the kitchen. Luckily, I'd made a batch of these cookies the night before (and eaten half of it in preparation for my morning long run). In a nutshell, this is why I love healthy baking: They taste sweet and indulgent, like cookies should, but they're also really nourishing and can double as a pre-workout snack. If you ask me, there's no way you could lose in this situation.

These morsels are vegan if you use vegan chocolate and gluten-free if you use GF oats. They have lots of chocolate, lots of fiber, plenty of protein and an irresistible sweetness and moist texture from ripe bananas. I highly recommend them as workout fuel, midnight snacks, midday snacks, dessert, breakfast, or just because. Or any other time, for that matter. They're that good.

Vegan Double-Chocolate Cookies

Many thanks to 101 Cookbooks for the inspiration.

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup olive or coconut oil (if using coconut oil, warm it slightly to de-solidify)

2 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almond meal (another product of my Costco bag of almonds)

1/3 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

6-7 ounces chocolate chips (I used 1/2 bar of super dark 85% chocolate, chopped, and about 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips. They contrast each other well.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 and place racks in the top third.

In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks and chips. Drop tablespoon-sized dollops of dough onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes, checking to make sure the bottoms don't burn. I cooked mine for close to 14 minutes and they could have stayed in a bit longer. Remove from oven, let cool, and enjoy!