12/09/13 - Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Now I'm home for the foreseeable future, I should be doing much more kitchen experimentation.  I mean, I have the house to myself all day and lots of time on my hands - no excuse not to, right?  Wrong.  My main stumbling block is that I'm lazy, and I tend to avoid exciting cooking or baking as it means more washing up than something simple...yes, I am that lazy.  But I'm determined to break out of that rut and here is the first step on that journey.  And these were a bit messy to make, so I threw myself in at the deep end.

The name is a bit of a mouthful - Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies.  I prefer 'Little Bites of Healthy(ish) Heaven'.  Peanut butter and chocolate can never be wrong and I always assumed, until now, that they could never be good for you.  While I have no idea about the calorific or fat content of these, they seem to be fairly healthy - nothing dodgy and no ingredients that are particularly bad for you on their own.  The use of banana as both binding agent and sweetener lightens it right up!

Again, I can't take credit for this recipe...I came across the original here, but I found myself adapting it as the process went along.  Adding a little milk here, having to compensate for not having enough honey there, you know the drill.  

These look a little different from the photos on the original recipe; I think I lost control of the food processor a little when I was blending my oats and ground them a little too fine - aah well, it doesn't really matter.  I replaced the chocolate chips on top for dried cranberries to add a little sharpness and to introduce a different texture.

They're not hard to make - made easier by the process of refridgerating them rather than baking - and they're really tasty!  Great to fulfill a little sweet-tooth craving mid-afternoon without feeling too guilty afterwards.  And the washing up is never as bad as I think it's going to be.

If you have any other healthy treat recipes, leave them down below or let me know if you think these might find their way into your kitchen!