Recipes

Semi-Healthy Treats & Eats with Mel: Chocolatey Peanut Butter Cookies

While we are gearing up for school to start up, I am officially initiating a new theme: “Playing with Your Food.” This section is for great ideas to throw in your kiddos’ lunch boxes so they can brag about how awesome their mommy is to all their friends more than usual!

And to kick off Day 1…

*drumroll*

Introducing, the first post of Semi-Healthy Treats & Eats with Mel! 

*applause*

Thank you, thank you! I’ll be here all week!

*takes bow*

I am so excited to start this new section on my blog so that all of you moms out there can treat your kids in a healthier way! Today’s treats & eats recipe is Mel’s Chocolatey Peanut Butter Cookies!

 

WARNING: Your kids will be bugging you a million times, “Can I just have one more cookie?”

                

I created this recipe based on a general chocolate cookie recipe but decided to make it healthier by cutting the sugar & dairy. For example, I am allergic to egg yolks and intolerant butter & milk. Also, I prefer to try to make things as healthy as possible with as much protein as possible! These cookies have an added 10.5 grams of protein than normal and about half of the sugar! But don’t worry, you’re kiddos will never know! It will be our little secret!

*snicker*

So here’s how this is made healthier:

  • Instead of butter, I am using plain greek yogurt. This adds healthy protein, probiotics, and healthy fats that our kids need. Plus, we all know that greek yogurt is just the absolute best! I used Chobani because I personally like the taste and consistency better than the others. (It’s just so smooth and creamy!)

 

  • Instead of eggs, I used 1 banana smushed up. This adds sweetness to the batter so that we can lessen the amount of sugar that we use. Combined with the yogurt, it adds just enough wetness so that we can eliminate the milk.

 

Ok, so enough gabbing about this…let’s get baking!

 

Ingredients:

    Dry Mixture:

        1 & ½ cup flour

        ½ cup cocoa powder

        ½ tsp baking soda

        ½ tsp salt

    Wet Mixture:

        ½ cup greek yogurt (plain)  

        ¼ cup brown sugar

        ¼ cup granulated sugar

        ¼ cup peanut butter

        1 banana, smashed (the larger the banana the less sugar needed)

 

  • Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
  • Mix all other ingredients except banana in a medium bowl (You can use a mixer on low but I prefer the old fashioned way with a fork)
  • Smush the banana into a smooth paste with a fork then add to wet mixture
  • Dump your banana, sugar, yogurt mix into the dry mix bowl and mix until it forms dough

 *pause*

TASTE THE DOUGH! (Since there are no raw eggs it’s perfectly safe!) If you want it sweeter, add 1 tbs of sugar at a time. This is where you can choose to add extra peanut butter, cocoa, or any chocolate chips, etc. to your batter.

 *un-pause*

  • Roll your dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. (Fun option: rolls the balls in powder sugar for a cool crinkle cookie effect)

 Bake for 8-10 minutes. You want the cookie to still be soft when you pull it out of the oven. The great thing about these is that since there are no eggs, you can’t over-bake them!

 

Once they are out, let them cool and then eat them all at once! Why? Because it’s just fun to do! Then, since you are a pro at making these cookies, bake another batch for your kiddos’ lunch the next day! Great idea: get some colored saran wrap and wrap the cookies up, get some ribbon and tie around it. Voila! Cute, fun, yummy, and semi-healthy!

 

I want to see your creations! Whether you used my idea or it inspired you to create something else! Tag me @themeleffect so I can see what all you’ve done!

 

About the author

Melanie Adams

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