I'm not even mad. I'm impressed.

Baking is a stress reliever for me; It's almost like it's therapeutic. Is that weird? I get urges to cook all the time. Usually I bake and gift, hoping that the sugar filled confections are edible, and never knowing for certain, due to my non-treat eating habits. But there are some specific things I'll make so that I can partake as well. Last week I posted THIS recipe for a healthier version of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was actually very pleased with the outcome, but I wasn't completely satisfied as far as the caloric value was concerned. I knew I could do better. This whole past week I've been thinking about how I could toy with the recipe to get rid of the chocolate chips all together. I was looking at some sad, past the point of regular consumption, bananas sitting on my counter and I thought about how that might incorporate nicely into the recipe.

I mean come on...bananas, oats, honey....yes please.

Oh, and I haven't even got to the best part yet. Each cookie? 47 CALORIES!!! I am not even kidding. A cookie for less that 50 calories, and with 2.6 grams of sugar. I wouldn't joke about such a thing. They seriously are SO good. It tastes like a little bite of banana bread. I'm kind of excited about it if you can't tell. Move over chocolate chips, we don't even need you.

Here is the recipe as of today.

HONEY BANANA OATMEAL COOKIES

recipe yields 36 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 TBS butter

1 1/2 TBS unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 egg whites

1 TBS water

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

2 small ripe bananas, mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350

2. Mix together butter, applesauce, brown sugar, honey, egg whites, and water.

3. Add in your dry ingredients, and then your oatmeal and mashed bananas.

4. Spoon onto cookie sheet (sprayed with Pam) and bake for 12 minutes.

Nutritional Info:

47.7 calories, .8 grams of fat (.4 sat, .1 poly, .2 mono), 9.8 grams of carbs, .7 grams of fiber, 2.6 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

DANG. That is all I have to say.