Chocolate Banana Crunch Cookies

A few months ago, I was bored . . . and wanted to eat cookies. This happens often -- and often when I don't have any typical ingredients on hand. What resulted on this particular day is one of my most adventurous and delicious cookie recipes yet!

What's so adventurous? Well, I threw in Grape-Nuts. And when I told my husband, he just looked at me. Blankly. Of course, when I shared the cookies with others, I presented this last-minute action as one that was completely deliberate. For the crunch, it is simply irresistible. And you can even pretend they're healthy, what with all the wheat flour (for good carbs) and fruit (have to get in those servings). Peanut butter (for protein). Etc.

Some notes: The bananas are absolutely, positively key, as they make up the dominant flavor. I normally do not like bananas. However, paired with the chocolate and peanut butter tastes, they're perfect in this recipe. Also, if you don't want to use hot cocoa (that's all I had that fateful day), you can substitute cocoa powder -- but perhaps add a bit more sugar.

By the way, that cocoa is the part that makes the ones pictured above not vegan. So, experiment yourself, and see what happens. Please tell me how it turns out!

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you can plainly see that, overall, my baking is a lot of experimentation. In fact, I read through some of my older blog posts last night and noticed the word pop up enough times that I now require a thesaurus. But, at heart, that's what baking is all about. Right? So feel free to modify this recipe to suit your own taste.


What you'll need . . .

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance (or your favorite butter substitute)
• 1/4 cup Silk soymilk
• 1/2 cup sugar (In the Raw)
  
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unbleached, white flour
• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix (I used Ghirardelli) -- or try cocoa powder for vegan deliciousness
  
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup Grape-Nuts cereal

Method . . .

1.) Preheat oven to 395 degrees Fahrenheit
2.) Cream together the Earth Balance, Silk, sugar, brown sugar, banana, and vanilla
3.) Mix in everything else until well blended (you may need to add a bit more wheat flour if it seems too wet)
4.) Drop heaping spoonfuls of better onto lightly greased cookie sheet
5.) Bake for approximately 7 or 8 minutes, or until golden brown.