How in the world was I exhausted at 10 pm last night?
I’m a night person! Then I remembered I left the house at 730am to play in a softball tournament and only came home long enough to shower and shovel one of these in my mouth.
My team didn’t win the tournament, but the game we lost was one of the most memorable I’ve had. We went into overtime and lost… but the adrenaline and the plays made by my team were over the top.
We were down by 5 with 2 outs. One girl got hit in the nose with the ball, bled a lot, and then came back into the game to bat so we didn’t have to take an out for her spot in the lineup… and she got a great hit! Sadly, we still lost by 1. 🙁
In keeping with my new weekly recap tradition, here’s was last week looked like:
Workout Recap (7/4-7/9)
- Monday – Peachtree Road Race – 10K – 51:08 mins
- Tuesday – Yoga for Runners, stationary bike 30 mins, 84 push-ups
- Wednesday – Biceps/Back, 5K run, 84 push-ups
- Thursday – Intervals (2 mile treadmill, 1 mile elliptical), 84 push-ups
- Friday – Tris/Chest, P90X Ab Ripper X, 84 push-ups
- Saturday – 5 mile run (in 40 mins!!!)
- Sunday – Softball tournament, 84 push-ups
NuNaturals was nice enough to send me some goodies to test out.
The package came with recipes, but I’ve had my eye on these Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies from Gracie @ Girl Meets Life.
It’s not often something so good for you tastes so decadent.
These are gluten-free and vegan. The added bonus is that they are low-sugar. If you omitted the chocolate chips, they would be sugar-free – you could do that and thrown in come walnuts for banana bread cookies.
NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia drops worked like a charm. My cookies were appropriately sweet and I didn’t notice an aftertaste.
Coconut flour has been a recent addition to my pantry. I’m loving it. You have to be careful as it has a different feel than “regular” flour, but it adds a smooth, almost silky texture to baked goods.
Some benefits of coconut flour:
- Good source of fiber – At 58% insoluble fiber, it has the highest percentage found in any flour
- Guilt-free baking (nearly… the other ingredients are your business 😉 ) – Insoluble fiber means your body doesn’t digest it (translation: your body can’t derive calories from it); these fibers basically magic eraser their way through you intestines doing what fiber should do to keep your digestive system healthy
- Gluten-free and hypoallergenic – Many people without a serious gluten allergy and moving towards a low-gluten diet. Subbing coconut for some of your regular flour is another way to cut down on gluten intake. For those that do have an allergy, you can use this with rice flour to improve textures.
Be warned that coconut flour is very dry and doesn’t bond well. Remedy this by adding binders like bananas or eggs to your batter. This can also be accounted for by using subbing in place of just 1/4 to 1/2 with a “regular flour.”
Keeping that in mind… welcome to cookies so silky and light you won’t be able to stop eating them. Which is fine, as they are pure doughy deliciousness at only 86 calories a pop.
Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium banana, well-mashed
- 14 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid vanilla stevia
- 1/2 T coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp butter extract
- 1 C unsweetened coconut milk (So Delicious-style)
- 1/3 C dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry, stirring as you go. Fold in chocolate chips.
Scoop out 2 T of dough on lined baking sheet, pressing down lightly.
Bake for 25 mins, until cookies begin to brown. Allow them to cool completely (they are crumbly!).
Makes 11 cookies.
Approximate nutritional info: 86 calories, 4.2g fat, 11.1g carbohydrates, 3.8g fiber, 4.9g sugar, 2.1g protein.
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Important Announcement: it’s my BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!! Woot!
What is new to your kitchen as of late?
What a great week of working out for you!
Loving the 5 miles in under 40.. congrats!
Yummy looking cookies.. I’ve never tried coconut flour before!
Softball! I am deathly afraid of it so you are pretty much my hero right now haha I always feel like I will get hit in the face! Also… good job on the 5miler in 40 minutes holy cow! 84 push ups a day also it LEGIT!
I may have to make those cookies !!
Happy Birthday week!!
I absolutely love coconut flour. It gives my oatmeal or chia pudding a doughy like consistency and it tastes good.
I’ve used it in pancakes but not in cookies yet. Those look delicious!!
Brilliant! When you suggested using banana to keep the cookies together I was like ‘YES!’ Sooo yummy 🙂
Oh these look so yummy and I love the touch of dark chocolate – rounds things out beautifully! 🙂 Sorry about the game but it sounds like you were troopers – especially the gal who took a hard one for the team – keep up the great work!
Happy Birthday week to you! And those cookies look like an awesome way to start off the celebrations!
I’ve never used coconut flour – I definitely need to start branching out a bit more. I feel like I’m missing out!
Wow, great effort by your team! The cookies sound very good. Have a great day, lady!!
Oh man – those look awesome. LOVE the coconut addition!
I love coconut flour! I have a bag in my fridge right now and I put it in everything 🙂
I’ve had these bookmarked (from Gracie’s page) for months… I definitely need to try them! Happy birthday week – I celebrate for the whole month! 😉
Ahhhh HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK!! Milk it for as long you can! 😀 I say we should get a whole month to celebrate but thats just me! 😉 Those cookies look amazing and they sound so good for you! I really need to get on the stevia boat!
I totally agree! Birthdays are a big deal! 🙂
Sorry for the loss 🙁 … but happy birthday week! 😀 And the cookies look fantastic. I made a vegan chocolate-coconut-banana pudding tart this spring and fell in love with coconut flour! I love the way it feels. LOL! Happy Monday Laura! P.S… I’m ALWAYS sleepy at 10pm. Haha.
I want that recipe!
Bookmarking bookmarking!!! These sound SO good! And I just bought a big bag of coconut flour and some oil! Ahhh perfect!
What a game- how could you not be tired after that! And these cookies sound fan-tastic!! I love coconut + chocolate!!!
Coconut flour is on my try-it-out list–I keep hearing good things! And these cookies look gooood.
Come and make these for me please?
Ok i’ve been totally eyeing coconut flour! I love coconut oil and milk so obv that’s the next step right? haha!
Sorry about the game. That stinks, but I guess it’s all about the fun, right? The cookies look and sound delicious! I LOVE coconut flour and NuNaturals. I’ll give these a try for sure! Enjoy your week my friend!
Haha, I’m exhausted by 10 pm every night! I am truly a morning person 🙂
True story: I had a package of coconut flour in my cart today and was like, hm…should I or shouldn’t I? I didn’t know too much about how to use it, so I put it back. But I’ll definitely pick some up next time I’m at the co-op! (Also, thank you for your comment. You are too kind)
i have been reading your blog for a bit now, but I am pretty sure this is my first time commenting!
First, yay for it being your birthday week, how exciting 🙂
I have never even heard of coconut flour before! This sure looks like a perfect way to introduce it into my diet. Thank you for the recipe!
What a brilliant recipe, this looks so delicious!! 🙂
WOW your week of workouts is amazing! I need to jump back on the yoga bandwagon I enjoy it so much but keep skipping out.