Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

mango almond oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

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Let’s talk cookies, specifically mango almond oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

I know this flavor combination may seem a bit odd, but I’m kind of in love with it.

Last week at Trader Joe’s I bought some dried mango slices as an impulse purchase. I was daydreaming about them my entire 10-minute drive home and then decided that they needed to be in some cookies. I don’t recall what thoughts led me down that path, but I’m glad they happened.

Because now I have these in my life.

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

From the dried mangos to the chocolate chips to the roasted almonds to the oats, these cookies have a lot going on in the texture and flavor departments.

The dried mangos for their chewiness and touch of fruitiness.

The chocolate chips for their sweetness and the fact that chocolate chips just belong in cookies.

The toasted almonds for their crunch and delicious toasted nutty flavor.

And the oats for, well, their oatinesss.

Dreamy, right?

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

But wait, there’s more! These cookies are spiced with some ground ginger. Typically oatmeal cookies call for cinnamon, but I love the way that ginger pairs with mangos, so I made a little swap.

I didn’t call the ginger out in the title, because it seemed long enough already, so instead it’s just a little surprise.

You’re welcome.

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

I hope you bake these up and fall in love with them like I did!

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

mango almond oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
 
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These cookies are full of delicious flavor and texture. From the dried mangos to the toasted almonds to the oatmeal to the chocolate chips, you won't be disappointed!
Serves: 30 cookies
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)
  • 2 cups quick rolled oats
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1 ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
  • ⅓ cup dried mangos, cut into small pieces
  • ⅓ cup toasted almonds, chopped
  • ⅓ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan or in the microwave (stirring at 20-30 second intervals until it is melted).
  3. In a medium bowl combine the oats, baking soda, ginger, and salt then stir in the melted butter. Let this sit for a few minutes, allowing the oats to soak up the moisture of the butter.
  4. Stir in the brown sugar until no clumps remain, then add the egg and vanilla. Stir vigorously until thoroughly combined.
  5. Mix in the flour, then add the mangos, almonds, and chocolate chips and stir until combined.
  6. Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
  7. Cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
You can use regular all purpose flour instead of white whole wheat.
To toast the almonds, put them on a pan in the oven while it’s preheating for about 10 minutes.

mango almond oatmeal choc chip cookies

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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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My roommate and I have found ourselves in a little situation: we have a stockpile of ripe bananas in our freezer.

Do bananas ripen much quicker in a kitchen that is approximately 7 degrees too warm? Or do they ripen much quicker in Denver than in Minneapolis? Or are we just buying bananas that are already too close to ripening?

I guess it doesn’t matter. A stockpile of ripe bananas = An abundance of banana bread.

It’s actually a pretty good situation to be in and neither of us were complaining about eating this brown butter chocolate chip banana bread.

brown butter chocolate chip banana bread

Last week I came home from a particularly promising interview and didn’t want the good vibes to go to waste, so I dug into the ripe banana stockpile and whipped up some banana bread <— good decisions.

And decided to use brown butter and chocolate chips <— the best decisions.

brown butter chocolate chip banana bread

I turned on some tunes, browned butter, mashed bananas, mixed the wet with the dry, threw in a handful of chocolate chips, and just kept the good vibes going. Soon the delicious aroma of banana bread was filling the house.

This is the beauty of banana bread. It is so easy to make and smells like a dream.

brown butter chocolate chip banana bread

Plus, can we just all agree that fresh banana bread is one of the greatest things to eat ever?

I ate some, saved some for Katie, and brought the rest into Blackbird for my co-workers. That’s how I make friends… along with my charmingly awkward personality.

60% of the time it works every time.

brown butter chocolate chip banana bread

If you don’t have a stockpile of ripe bananas in your freezer, start building! Then bake this up, make some friends, and spread the good vibes.

PS – Basic Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread, Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies, and Brown Butter Pumpkin Bars

brown butter chocolate chip banana bread

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
 
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Few things are better than freshly baked banana bread, but add some brown butter and chocolate chips in the mix and you know you're going to have a great day.
Serves: 12 slices
Ingredients
  • 9 tablespoons butter, unsalted
  • 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 ½ cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
  2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Continue to whisk until brown specks appear at the bottom, it will froth and foam a bit. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. Pour butter into a medium bowl, whisk in an ice cube, and let cool for a few minutes.
  3. Add the mashed bananas, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and milk. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
  4. Add the flour and baking soda and stir a few times until just combined. Lumps are ok!
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips, saving some for the top of the loaf.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.
  7. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
  8. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.
  9. Slice and serve the bread warm with your favorite spread. It will keep well for a few days wrapped in plastic wrap or in the freezer for a few months.
Notes
You can use any type of milk (dairy, almond, soy, etc) and yogurt works too.

If you are baking this in altitude, make the following adjustments: add an additional tablespoon of milk and flour and take just a little bit out of the teaspoon of baking soda and ½ cup of brown sugar. Also, increase the oven temperature to 365 degrees and reduce baking time to 45-50 minutes.

I said good vibes a lot in this post. No, I’m not high, but maybe it is the altitude?

brown butter choc chip banana bread5

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Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies (gluten free, vegan)

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Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies.

Wait.

What?

Cannellini blondies.

almond butter cannellini blondies

I get it. It’s weird. Stay with me.

These blondies were never on my radar. I never thought about them nor did I ever dream about them. They just kind of happened.

What I originally wanted to do was make black bean brownies. You have heard of those before, right? The surprisingly delicious and healthy little faux brownies made with black beans and cocoa powder (among a few other things). That was my plan.

But when I went to go grab a can of black beans from my cupboard, I *GASP* didn’t have any. My inventory (which I manually track in my memory) must have been off. Whoops.

(insert nerdy supply chain joke about inventory discrepancies)

I spotted a can of cannellini beans, shrugged my shoulders, and switched directions. If brownies can be made with black beans, then blondies could be made with cannellini beans, right?!

Well…

almond butter cannellini blondies

Sure.

These cannellini blondies aren’t made with butter, flour, egg, or lots of sugar. Instead there is coconut oil, cannellini beans, flax meal, maple syrup, and only two tablespoons of brown sugar. They also have some almond butter, walnuts, and dark chocolate chips, because those things just seem to be involved in everything that I do.

The texture is a lot softer and resembles more of a moist quick bread than a regular blondie (like these brown butter bourbon blondies or these brown butter ginger peach blondies). The taste is, well, different. No, they don’t taste like beans. They taste like a tasty sweet treat that I don’t have to feel guilty about. Not even if I stress eat two in the same sitting.

almond butter cannellini blondies

But who even stress eats? I DO.

I’m running a marathon TOMORROW and kind of have been nonchalantly internally freaking out about it all week. I think I’m in denial that it’s even happening. After doing a bulk of my runs solo and struggling a lot with my performance this training season, it just doesn’t feel like I’ve worked hard enough for the marathon to actually be here. Plus, my recently diagnosed arrhythmia hasn’t helped the situation. I guess my heart beats to it’s own awkward drum?

The Cardiologist gave me a Zio patch (like this) and told me I could run it. I am thankful that none of my other muscles or bones are injured and that my whole family is driving up to Duluth to cheer me on and that everyone else in the Calhoun Beach Run Club is totally going to kill it and that the experience as a whole will be really fun and rewarding.

Annddddd…. Back to the blondies. I am thankful for these too. Did I mention they are gluten-free and vegan (if you use vegan-friendly chocolate chips)? Neat!

I guess I really shouldn’t even call them blondies, but I’m going to anyways. What’s done is done.

almond butter cannellini blondies

Have cherry walnut butterscotch blondies when you ate healthy salads all week and want to delight yourself by eating something sweet and sinful. Have these almond butter cannellini blondies when you want a healthy little treat during the week so that you can save your big indulgence for Friday night pizza.

Different situations, but both are great ideas.

almond butter cannellini blondies

So yeah, cannellini blondies are real and I like them… for regular healthy enjoyment and for stress eating.

Now I’m headed up to Duluth to get ready for a 26.2 mile run tomorrow. Wish me luck??

almond butter cannellini blondies

Almond Butter Cannellini Blondies (gluten free, vegan)
 
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These almond butter cannellini blondies might seem strange, but they are a healthy little treat. They are gluten free and vegan (if using vegan-friendly chocolate chips) and easy to make. These are perfect for a mid-day snack or for a post-dinner dessert without all the guilt of a classic blondie.
Serves: 9 blondies
Ingredients
  • 2 ½ tablespoon water
  • 1 tablespoon flax meal
  • 15 oz cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ almond butter
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips if needed)
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the blondies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Lightly grease with butter or oil.
  2. In a small bowl, stir together the water and flax meal. Let sit for about 5 minutes. This is your flax egg.
  3. Add all the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor excluding the walnuts and chocolate chips. Process until smooth, 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips, reserving a little bit of each to sprinkle on top. Process a few times so that they get mixed into the batter and break up a little bit.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the remaining nuts and chocolate.
  6. Bake for 26-32 minutes. It will be will difficult to tell when these are done.
  7. Let these cool completely in the pan before removing and cutting.
  8. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for a few days. I personally like them stored in the refrigerator and I bet they would hold up well in the freezer.

almond butter cannellini blondies

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