Not-So-Chunky Monkey Cookies

I'm stubborn when it comes to choosing a recipe. When it comes down to it, I'd rather make something up... which is what I did! I get stuck between going crazy healthy and super fattening, so this time, I took the best of both worlds, and stuck them into a cookie! My original idea was to make banana peanut butter truffles, but then cocoa powder got into the mix (literally) and they became more chocolatey than anything, perfect for the chocolate lover! But with much less guilt than the average chocolate cookie! For starters, no sugar added! Instead, the sweetness of the bananas, peanut butter, plus chopped dates (shh!) replaces the need for sugar! Also, I used the peanut butter instead of oil! I took the idea of the zebra cookies that everyone loves, but instead of icing sugar, used a mixture of graham cracker crumbs and pb2! It's like chocolate peanut butter heaven! If you want to go all the way, chop up some marshmallows into the dough and its like smores!!! I'm doing that next time! For something I completely made up, I am quite impressed! Try them and you'll see!!!

Not-so Chunky Monkey Cookies:

2 bananas, mashed
5 dates, pit removed and chopped finely
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional- you can also use puffed rice if you have)
1/4 cup chocolate, chopped into pieces, or chocolate chips

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup PB2 (peanut butter powder, if you don't have this, you could probably sub finely ground nuts)

Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, blend together bananas, dates, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until well combined. This will be pretty chunky because of the dates but mix it the best you can! In another bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Pour the wet into the dry and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough. Mix in walnuts and chocolate. 
In a shallow pan, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs and PB2. Roll the dough into teaspoon-ish sized balls with your hands, and toss them around in the crumb mixture until all sides are covered. Place on your parchment-lined baking sheet, giving a little space in between each. From experience, they really don't spread much, so you don't need to give them so much space. With your hands or a flipper, squish them down a little. Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they're lightly brown on the bottom. It's hard to tell if they're ready or not because they're chocolate, but if they hold their own, they should be ready. Enjoy! 

If any of you are good at math, you will notice that there are a few missing... what? someone has to do the quality control around here ;)