Marathon Cookies

This recipe is from a coworker who is a marathon runner. One day he brought in these things that he called cookies. They are hearty and so packed with stuff that they barely resemble 'cookies', but they are delicious and they are good for you. They are packed with good fats and proteins and grains and all kinds of other stuff. I figured I'd make them for my hubby, who is also a marathon runner. He loves them!

I must disclaim that these are NOT low fat. They are instead, good fat. They are great for a quick fix to a sweet tooth, or to tide you over until dinner is ready post-run. Just don't think that you can sit down and eat an entire batch with no consequence.

Here's a good article about good and bad fats:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/skinny-fat-good-fats-bad-fats

Here's the recipe already!!!

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
0.5 tbsp baking soda
dash of cinnamon
dash of cardamom
1 cups apple sauce
0.5 cup organic sugar
0.5 cup organic brown sugar
2 ripe bananas
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
3.5 cups oats
0.5 cups steel cut oats
2 or 3 handfuls chocolate chips
1 handful almonds
0.25cups flax seeds
1 small handful walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Mix flour, baking soda and spices in small bowl. Use whatever spices you like and have at hand. If it's fall, go for some pumpkin pie spice.

2. In a mixer, beat/cream the bananas with the sugars. Add the applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. The bananas are used to sweeten the cookies. Use ripe bananas (almost black peels). Add more bananas to use less sugar.

3. Combine the dry ingredients with the banana mix. Once a sticky dough is formed, add the oats, nuts, chocolate chips and seeds until they are well incorporated. It's a pretty chunky batter.

4. Plop tablespoon-sized mounds onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 - 15 minutes (depending on how many sheets of cookies you put in at once).

5. This recipe makes about 3 dozen. These are delicious right out of the oven. Or you can let the cookies cool completely. Wrap some with wax paper and stuff into a ziplock bag. They freeze very well. Then you can take out just enough for the week so you're not tempted to eat all 36 before they spoil. :)

Enjoy!