It seems that these little darlings have everything yummy under the sun in them. Which is awesome because I love me some yummy cookies! I also love when you make something – anything vegan – that your fam usually won’t touch, but they end up loving and help to devour. I call that a win every time! And if you have every single favorite goody in your cookie? Oh my goodness it’s hard not to eat them all at one time! I hope you get to enjoy these vegan and gluten-free Chocolate Protein Cookies.

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I had so many names I could have called these little pillows of goodness – like chocolate banana cookies, little muffin tops, chocolate chocolate chocolate cookies. Something better than just protein cookies. That is so normal sounding – but these cookies are anything but normal. Packed with vegan protein powder (chocolate of course), chocolate milk, peanut butter, tons of bananas, and dried cherries, it’s like my after-workout protein shake in cookie form. And man, oh, man, when these little babies came out of the oven and they were warm and pillowy-soft? Oh gosh, it was heaven in a dessert. I tried not to feel guilty eating these, because it was all good stuff, but when you are trying not to eat half the pan when just moving them to a cooling rack? A little special guilt starts to kick in. But these cookies were the perfect pre- and post-workout snack. I froze almost all of them so I wouldn’t have them sitting in front of me and taunting me, and I ate them before my weekend morning workouts and they were the perfect things to get me through my runs – which are slow going, but hey, I’m proud to say I’m jogging again! I love the treadmill so much since I can set the speed and see the time I am spending moving faster than a walk – outdoor runs are great for clearing the mind, but treadmills are for training. My thoughts anyway.

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To make these pillowy goodies, first process half the oats into flour in a food processor. Dump the flour, protein powder, sugar, cinnamon, and baking powder into a bowl and mix. In a smaller bowl mash the bananas (browner the better) with the extract until mush. Dump into the bowl. Melt the peanut butter (its easier to mix when the peanut butter is syrupy) then dump into the bowl and mix everything. Add the oats and milk and mix again then add the cherries and mix one last time – add a little more milk if needed to get the right cookie texture. Spoon dough onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Chocolate Protein Cookies,

3 C Oats, 1/2 processed into flour
2 Scoops Vega All-In-One Chocolate Nutritional Shake
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Saigon Cinnamon
1/2 C Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 C Wholesome Sweetener Coconut Sugar
3 Brown Bananas, mashed
1 Tbsp Chocolate Extract
1/2 C Almond Breeze Unsweetened Chocolate Milk
8 oz Pkg Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Dried Bing Cherries

1. Set oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In your food processor dump 1 1/2 cups oats and process into flour.
3. In a bowl dump the flour, protein powder, baking powder, coconut sugar, and cinnamon and mix.
4. In a smaller bowl mash the bananas with the extract. In a small cup heat the peanut butter to a syrup.
5. Add the mashed bananas and peanut butter to the dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Add the milk and rest of the oats and mix again. Add the cherries and mix until just combined.
7. Spoon onto baking sheets.
8. Bake 20 minutes.
9. Let cool and enjoy!