These Healthy Zucchini Cookies pack the nutrition while still being a sweet treat! Loaded with zucchini, carrot, banana, oats, nuts, and seeds, they are perfect for kids, parents too, when you need a snack or dessert!
A Snack AND A Treat
I am still nursing my youngest, so when I get the kids to sleep at night, I need a serious snack and I usually feel like I deserve ice cream (bedtime can be rough with the little monsters). I’ve heard people say “when I want a cookie I want a real cookie” and they don’t want it to be healthy. My problem… I want about four every night, with ice cream… so healthy cookies it is for me.
Healthy Ingredients
I’ve read and tried a ton of healthy cookie recipes with some successes and some problems. Mainly that they are not, in fact, very healthy at all! Usually a banana thrown in with a bunch of flour and sugar. Not these! These Healthy Zucchini Cookies really are pretty healthy. They are full of fruits and vegetables, like zucchini, carrot and banana. They also pack the protein with nuts, seeds, almond flour, oats, and egg. Maple sugar and chocolate chips replace the sugar, while the fat is coconut oil. While I appreciate their healthiness, they are still delicious! Nutty, chewy and perfectly sweet, they are a great treat for the kids when you don’t want them to go overboard on dessert.
Perfect for the Freezer
This recipe makes two big pans worth, so I always freeze the extras. I make batch after batch when the zucchini are coming out of the garden. A couple cookies can go straight from the freezer to a lunch box. Sometimes I freeze just a few in little containers so I can grab one when heading out to a park or hike with the (now older) kids. Eat them straight from the freezer or pop a few into the microwave…the best with ice cream!
Healthy Zucchini Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ c oats
- ¾ c flour (can substitute some almond flour)
- 1 c nuts chopped - peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, any combination
- ½ c seeds chia, sunflower, flax, pumpkin, sesame, any combination
- ½ c shredded coconut
- ¾ c chips - chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, any combination
- ½ t baking soda
- ½ t baking powder
- ½ t kosher salt
- 1 zucchini shredded (about 1 cup, squeeze some of the water out)
- 1 carrot shredded (about 1 cup)
- 1 banana mashed with a fork
- 1 egg
- ¼ c coconut oil
- ¼ c honey or maple syrup
- 2 t vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
- Add all other ingredients and mix with a spatula until well combined
- Using a small portion scoop, scoop onto 2 oil sprayed cookie sheets, makes about 40 to 48 cookies, depending on size (you can do tight rows of 5 by 5 cookies to get them to fix, they don't spread so can be close together)
- Bake 25 minutes, cookies can be pressed with a spatula when hot from the oven to give a flat round cookie shape
- Serve with ice cream and freeze extras
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