Saturday PM Snack - The Best Paleo Cookies Ever

Ahhh Saturday.  After a long week of long hours at my desk, I love Saturday.  This morning's workout was short but crushing (kettle bell swings and rowing, after rope climbs - 6 months ago, that would have seemed impossible!).  Now after a hot shower, a left-overs lunch, and a mini nap, I am settling in to watch the Olympics.

These athletes are amazing, and confident, and young, and seem to be having a blast!  It is inspiring and humbling to watch them perform at such a high level.  I had the same feeling a few weeks back when we watched the CrossFit Games.  My coach held a little gathering at the box to watch the games projected on the whiteboard.  To show my appreciation, I whipped together a double batch of The Best Paleo Cookies Ever.  They were a huge hit!

I got the recipe off of pinterest.com.  If you are not already a member, I recommend joining.  There is a ton of information on there, dutifully categorized by the users. Sure, some people pin too hastily and you'll end up seeing a super-cute pair of pink stilettos in the "Fitness" category. But so what? Maybe those stilettos are inspiring someone to be fit!

This recipe, for The Best Paleo Cookies Ever, comes from a wonderful blog called Multiply Delicious.    The author calls them paleo-banana-chocolate-chip-cakies, but once you make them, you will understand why I changed the name, and added more chocolate chips. 

2 large ripe bananas, mashed
4 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons apple butter (I like Dutch Country Kettles sugar free)
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pinches of salt
2 1/2 cups almond flour (I use Bob's Red Mill. Someday I will have a food processor to make my own)
1 bag mini chocolate chips. (Multiply Delicious recommends Enjoy Life but my WholeFoods doesn't carry that brand. So I used Ghirardelli - not exactly primal, but I'm doing my best.)

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix first 7 ingredients until smooth. Mix in almond flour until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. How easy is that?! Spray two baking sheets with coconut oil and portion out the dough. I two teaspoons (one to scoop and one to push) like my co-worker showed me. She has past experience working in a bakery, so this advice is legit. Makes about 36 cookies.

Aren't they cute?

Bake until tops are brown.  These cookies are soft, so don't expect them to "stand up" when you poke them. But they will become firmer as they bake. The real trick is to let them get dark but not burned.  Depending on cookie size, about 10-15 min.  Let them sit on the pan for about 10 minutes then  stack them into a storage container and refrigerate.  The cold helps them firm up for easy grabbing at a party.

And here is the nutritional breakdown: 

		Cal	Fat	Carb	Protein
Two Mashed Bananas		242	0.9	62.1	3
4 Tbsp Almond Butter		360	32	12	14
2 Tbsp Apple Butter		40	0	8	0
2.5 cups Almond Meal		1600	140	60	60
1 bag mini-chocolate chips		1330	85.5	190	19
Total		3572	258.4	332.1	96
Per Cookie		99.22	7.18	9.23	2.67

Not too bad, as long as you control yourself and only eat about 4 a day.