CHOCOLATE PROTEIN BREAKFAST COOKIES (VEGAN)
These Chocolate Protein Breakfast Cookies are such a great way to use up ripe banana! After making my regular Protein Breakfast Cookies, I just know I needed a chocolate version! Of course, they are macro-balanced and low in sugar, making them the perfect breakfast. These soft oatmeal cookies have a hint of cocoa, and are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. Feel free to mix in chocolate chips, dried blueberries, nuts, or whatever else you feel like!
Did you know? Green bananas are high in resistant starch, which turns into natural sugars as the bananas ripen. Resistant starch has benefits for blood sugar control and digestive health, but that doesn't mean ripe yellow bananas are unhealthy! Yellow bananas are also a good source of fiber and Vitamin B6 (plus vitamin C, potassium, copper, and manganese). (source)
Protein recommendations
These cookies get their protein from LIV Body Lean Vegan Protein in Double Chocolate Chip Cookie flavor! It adds the perfect touch of cocoa flavor. Feel free to use my code SARAHWILKINS for free shipping on all LIV Body products! I also use their Marine Collagen for my skin, and joints.
If you don't have this specific vegan protein, any plant-based protein powder should work. The dough should be thick and not spread on your cookie sheet, so if you use a different protein, you may need to add more oats or unsweetened applesauce to get the right texture.
I have not tested this recipe with whey or casein so I cannot promise the result! I will say, whey isolate does not bake as well as whey blends, whey concentrates, and casein.
Sweetener recommendations
To sweeten these cookies, I recommend a calorie-free brown sugar alternative, such as Lakanto Golden Monk Fruit, Swerve Brown (available at Walmart), or Sukrin Gold. You can also use regular brown sugar or coconut sugar, but doing so will significantly increase the calories, carbs, and sugar per cookie.
You could also try leaving the sweetener out! If you're someone who likes things less sweet, it may be sweet enough with just the banana and protein :)
Other dry ingredients
I used organic gluten-free oats in these cookies. I chose organic because oats and grains are heavily sprayed with pesticides like harmful glyphosate! We also do gluten-free because my husband is gluten intolerant. If you are too, just know that conventional oats can have traces of wheat if they're not certified gluten-free.
The only other dry ingredients are unsweetened cacao powder and baking soda!
Bananas and other wet ingredients
For this recipe, you're going to use one spotted yellow bananas that's very ripe. I used one large banana, or about 130 grams. If you don't care for bananas, you could try two-thirds cup mashed sweet potato or pumpkin puree. I wouldn't suggest substituting applesauce or yogurt for the banana, since the textures are quite different.
The other wet ingredients are almond butter, unsweetened applesauce, and banana. You can swap the almond butter for another creamy nut or seed butter. Or, use yogurt or additional nut butter instead of the applesauce.
Optional add-ins
I added in chocolate chips, but you could add nuts, seeds, dried fruit, unsweetened coconut or fresh fruit. Really the possibilities are endless!
Here is the printable recipe for these Chocolate Protein Breakfast Cookies. I hope your family enjoys them :)
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