Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Healthy gluten-free, honey-sweetened, oat-based cookies made with peanut butter, banana and chocolate chips! Everyone loves these sweet little treats.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 19, 2024
Hello from Portland! There are quite a few states between me and the peanut butter cookies in my freezer right now, but I’m looking forward to cookies when I get home. Which reminds me, I miss my Cookie! I’ve been a little overwhelmed by all the city hustle and bustle that I have experienced over the past few days. I’m looking forward to some quality Cookie and Kate time when I get back.
I made these cookies for Jessica’s virtual baby shower. I haven’t met Jessica yet, but I feel like I know her (especially after listening to her chat with Jessica Lively!). I’ve sung her praises before so I’ll try to contain myself here. Her baby is going to have one sweet, creative and hilarious mama.
Jessica loves to “trash up” her favorite base recipes by adding about as many flavors as possible. So I went ahead and added as many of my favorite flavors to these cookies as I possibly could (plus some sprinkles for good measure!). I think Jessica will approve.
If we’re being honest here, I really wanted these cookies to be served as one giant skillet cookie. After my fourth skillet cookie crumbled on me, though, I said good riddance. Skillet cookies are sort of inherently exciting and celebratory and I would hate to dash your hopes with messy, crumbling slices. Lucky for me, everyone loves a good cookie, and these are some good cookies.
I hope you’ll give these honey-sweetened, oat-based, peanut butter everything cookies a shot soon, whether you need a simple dessert to bring to friend or just need a treat to satisfy your sweet tooth.
1 tablespoon cookie scoop (unnecessary but very handy for scooping out evenly sized cookies)
Nordic Ware Baker’s Half Sheet (I used two)
Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Healthy gluten-free, honey-sweetened, oat-based cookies made with peanut butter, banana and chocolate chips! Recipe yields about 36 small cookies.
Ingredients
- ½ cup honey or real maple syrup
- ½ cup natural unsalted peanut butter*
- ⅓ cup mashed overripe banana (about 1 medium banana)
- 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted, or ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor or blender
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Optional: 2 tablespoons sprinkles, plus more for sprinkling on top
- Optional: Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit with two racks near the middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (if you don’t have parchment paper, lightly grease the baking sheets).
- Measure out the honey and peanut butter—I found this easiest to do in a small liquid measuring cup. Add honey to the ½ cup line, then add peanut butter until you reach the 1 cup total liquid line.
- Pour the honey and peanut butter mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the mashed banana and melted butter and whisk until the mixture is well blended. Use your whisk to beat in the egg, scraping down the side of the bowl once it’s incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
- Switch to a big spoon and stir in the ground oats, rolled oats, chocolate chips and sprinkles until they are evenly combined. Drop the dough by the heaping tablespoon (a small cookie scoop is perfect for this) onto your prepared baking sheets. I added a few extra sprinkles on top for good measure.
- Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through (swap the cookies on the top rack with the cookies on the lower rack) until they’re barely set and just beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 16 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely on the pans. If desired, sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt now.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my maple-sweetened peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
*If your peanut butter is salted: Reduce salt in recipe to ½ teaspoon.
Make it nut free: I suspect that sunflower seed butter would work (sunbutter), although the end result will vary in flavor (for sure) and potentially in texture.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats and oat flour.
Make it dairy free: Substitute coconut oil for butter and use non-dairy chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life brand.
Make it egg free: Substitute a flax egg for the regular egg.
Make it vegan: Substitute a flax egg for the regular egg, coconut oil for the butter, and make sure to use non-dairy chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life brand.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I spy natural-colored sprinkles from WF! Seriously, those look great. And hurry home from Portland, will ya? We need some Cookie + Kate + Ali + Henry time STAT. :)
You know I couldn’t resist those $6 sprinkles! I’ll be home tomorrow, see ya soon!
Those sprinkles are fantastic! I love baking peanut butter, oatmeal cookies but the banana flavor is an interesting angle.
I just tried this recipe and am thrilled I did. I have two young ones and don’t get much time to bake but today I conquered with these cookies that I now have to hide from my husband – he’s capped at six! Thank you!
Woohoo! Thanks, Heather!
I think that despite your desire to “trash” these cookies up, you’ve produced some fairly healthy treats here! I could see these being a great 4pm snack with a cup of tea. Thanks, and enjoy Portland!
I love these healthy “trashed up” cookies, Kate! And that sprinkle shot!
these are to die for. i seriously might make them TODAY. love love love. THANK YOU!!! xoxoxo
Thank you, Jessica! And congratulations! So excited for you and can’t wait to see pictures of your babe soon.
The sprinkles are a perfect touch to these cookies! Hurry back, can’t wait to hear about your adventures!
These cookies look perfect!!! And, sprinkles! :) Thanks so much for joining in. Hope you’re having a blast in Portland! xo
Thanks, Ashley! And thank you for organizing this fun little (no, big!) blog party!
Oh yes – gotta have sprinkles or it wouldn’t be a party for Jessica. Love these cookies, Kate!
These look absolutely fabulous. Loving all of the ingredients and the use of oat flour. Can’t wait to make these!
Look delicious. Do you think swapping the chocolate chips for raisins and/or nuts would work. Trying to stay away from chocolate for awhile. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Hey Karen, yes, definitely! I should stay away from chocolate myself. I’m allergic… really.
Love the optional sea salt option! These look so tasty :) How are you enjoying Portland? I live in Seattle, but go down there often!
Hey Jennifer! Loved Portland! I also love Seattle. I can’t get enough of those tall, gorgeous, Pacific Northwest trees. I just happened to come visit at the perfect time.
making these for breakfast. and snack. and dessert. :)
ahh I love these! Sprinkles always make it better, and you tastefully trashed up these babies : )
the perfect mix of healthy + fun! i’ll be making these soon.
So dangerous to be reading this right around my snack time. Since there’s oats and PB, I’m going to go ahead and say that these are practically a granola bar. Happy travels!
Honestly, these babies might be healthier than the granola bars I posted recently. Hope you’re well!
These cookies look so, so good. Love the sprinkles!
yum!
Trashing it up with healthy delicious things! And sprinkles too! I love Jess’s blog and these are the perfect Cookie and Kate way to celebrate her baby shower! Health and deliciousness wrapped up in a sweet and sprinkly package. Safe travels and hope you get home to lots of Cookie cuddles soon :)
Thank you, Amy!
Giiiiiiirl skillet or no skillet, these are fabO and I need ’em. All of ’em.
Thank you for being a part of this. xoxox!
aw how fun, love Jessica … wishing you some quality cookie Kate time when you get home finally!
LOVE how you added sprinkles to these! These cookies sounds like a stellar combo of ingredients too!
Totally yes!
Peanut butter and oatmeal is one of the best combinations out there, and you just took it to the next level by adding those adorable sprinkles! How fun! These remind me a bit of monster cookies, and who doesn’t love those? Hope you’re having a great time in Portland!
Oh yum! These look great! What a perfect flavor combo!
These cookies are just fabulous. Perfect for a baby shower!
I am the worst baker BUT I am still going to try these!Sprinkles make everything more exciting! Thx!!
They will definitely satisfy my sweet tooth which is in overdrive lately! At least after I eat these I’ll feel good too. Thanks!
Love these! They’re like a mash up of all my favorite things in a cookie and all my man’s favorite things in a cookie. Yummy! Also, I think it is so cool that you’re honest about what didn’t totally work out instead of just trying to fake it. Go you!
Thanks, Daisy! Thanks for geeking out with me over cooking methods. I just couldn’t post skillet cookies that weren’t quite right!
Love the ingredient list! And how cute with the sprinkles. Just enough to make them look special for a party. I’ve never read Jessica’s blog, but I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes for her baby shower! I’ll have to check it out.
These cookies look like fun. Peanut butter, chocolate chips and sprinkles? Definitely a yes for me.
There’s always a soft spot in my heart for recipes with peanut butter and banana together. Love how the sprinkles add a little splash of color to these cookies! I’ve been going through the recipes on this virtual baby shower, and I’m loving all of them!
As it turns out, all of YOUR favorite cookie things are all of MY favorite cookie things! Must have these.
you’re killing me! These are on my must make list too! I hope you enjoyed the Northwest. Pats to Cookie. I’m sure she’s happy to have you home.
I love the addition of sprinkles to these cookies! Pinned
wow. Is there anything that you couldn’t fit in there?
What a gorgeous addition to the baby shower Kate! Sprinkles make everything prettier ;) Sorry about separation from your darling Cookie though (and the edible cookies in your freezer!). Glad that you are now back home for some snuggle time. Congrats to lovely Jessica on the pending arrival of her little one. P.S that bowl of cookie mix? Ah! Heavenly! xx
These were really good! thanks for sharing :) I hate sprinkles so I left them out, but super tasty, and healthy!
Thanks, Anne! Glad you enjoyed them! I’m not much of a sprinkles girl myself. :)
I just ate three of these warm out of the oven! And I don’t feel the least bit guilty. :o) I realized as I got started that I didn’t have a full half cup of honey, so I made a half batch and used a whole egg and added a little extra oat flour (probably unnecessary). These are delicious! And the displacement technique for measuring the peanut butter is pure genius. That is usually such a pain but that made it so easy! Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks, Bet!
I didn’t have any sprinkles but this was yummy and my family loved it! They said it beats all the chocolate chip cookies that can be bought from stores or cafes. :)
That’s great to hear! Thanks, Grace!
Just made these and very happy. Although would recommend less salt – Check to see if your PB is salted before you add more to the mix. If so, id cut salt significantly!
Thanks, Emily! I just added a note about the salted PB issue, thank you for your feedback!
I just made these for the second time and they are great – the perfect “sweet” treat for my daughter before bed (and me anytime)! I added raisins and cut down on the chocolate chips – seems a good combination. They puff up and don’t spread when baking, so I flattened them just a bit this time and that worked great. I froze some from the first batch and they were excellent right out of the freezer (confession: they were eaten frozen with coffee when my daughter wasn’t looking…had to come up with quick promise to make more when I finished the first batch on my own). Thanks for a great recipe.
Thank you! So glad you two are enjoying the cookies. I love cookies straight out of the freezer… in fact, might have to go grab one now! :)
Hello! This cookies look fantastic- gonna try out this recipe but I need to clarify the baking timing: do we cook at bottom and top racks for 8minutes then swap the trays and cook for another 8minutes?
Yes, that’s what you do!
Made and shared with group of friends and feedback was unanimous, all loved these. Any idea the nutritional content, particularly the approximate calories per cookie (I realize that changes by size, but ballpark)! I substituted the coconut oil (instead of butter), followed otherwise, but no sprinkles. Clean eating! Delish, thanks!
Hi Gigi! So glad you all enjoyed these. I’m sorry, I don’t have nutritional details for the cookies. Please feel free to run the recipe through a tool like myfitnesspal.com—that way you can adjust the recipe to match your version and get accurate information back.
Just made the Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. I added raisins as well. My house now smells amazing x
Thank you for commenting, Bec! I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies.
I stumbled across this recipe and so far, I’ve made them twice! They are absolutely amazing! I love the use of ground oats for oat flour and the fact that I can use a whisk and wooden spoon is great. I added chopped pecans, flaxseed/chia seed mixture, orange flavored cranberries and raisins to them. These are the new favorite cookie in my house (and my friends house.) THANK YOU! =]
Yay! Thank you, Maggie!
Hi,
I just baked these cookies and they were not good, they looked like balls of ground turkey. They tasted slightly powdery and the flavored from the peanut butter and banana were lost.
Just finished baking these and wow, as simple as they may be, the taste definitely isn’t simple! it’s so yummy and tasty and I basically ate three of them right after they were finished baking. It was slightly hot but so worth it!
Will be making these again for sure!
Thank you, Ariel! :)
Just made this recipe and it is perfection. Great texture, not too sweet. My husband, who is not a fan of peanut butter, even likes them!
Great recipe. I did change things a little. I doubled the recipe, used 3/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup maple syrup, used a stick of butter and about 2 Tbl coconut oil, used about 1 cup of ground flax seed in place of extra ground oats and double the cinnamon. These are very chewy and very good. I have a mom with alzheimers and these are good for her. I will also add ensure next time. We love them!!! Thanks!!
I just made these tonight and they are delicious!!! I didn’t have honey so I subbed an extra banana for it. Very tasty and healthy. Thank you for a somewhat healthy cookie!
Cookies were yummy! Where can I find the calorie count for your recipes?