Skinny Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I've heard a lot of people say that when they go on a diet and start to lose weight, they find themselves craving sweets more frequently. This was absolutely the case with me. I've always been all about the savory. If I'm going to eat a 500 calorie dessert, why not make it a cheeseburger? But when the pounds started dropping off, I wanted dessert all the freakin' time. I'm not sure what the medical reason is for this (if they don't talk about it on Grey's Anatomy or House then I'm in the dark), but I'm sure there's a long Greek word to describe it. Anyway, I thought I'd share a few tips with how to deal with these cravings:

1. Keep your fridge stocked with fresh fruits that you love. Nine times out of ten, my sweet craving can be satisfied with fruit. Fruit tends to have a high water content and loads of fiber, so it fills you up quickly. Not to mention it has a Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value of zero!

2. You already know how much I love nonfat Greek yogurt, seeing as how it makes an appearance in many of my recipes...but it's also a great dessert! I like to add whatever fruit I have on hand (see tip #1) to a 1/2 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt and drizzle it with honey. You can even add a bit of oatmeal or granola for a nice crunch.

3. If you're more of a baked goods fan, fill your pantry with healthy baking supplies, so when the urge comes to bake, you're ready. Stock up on whole wheat flour, oats, dark chocolate, and light butter.

4. Rice cakes. Quaker makes them in tons of sweet flavors, my favorites are apple cinnamon and caramel corn. These are a nice crunchy sweet, and you can eat them completely guilt-free.

5. After dinner, have a cup of tea. Luckily, living with an Englishman means there's rarely a shortage of delicious tea in our apartment, and I found that drinking a cup of tea after dinner is a good solution to the sweets cravings.

So here's a delicious cookie recipe that's healthy and will satisfy your sweet tooth. Since they're banana and oats, I would even say you could eat a couple of these bad boys for breakfast.

Skinny Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

Serving Size: 1 cookie

WW PointsPlus Value: 2

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp light butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar

1 egg

1 very ripe banana, mashed

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups quick oats

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Then add egg, banana, and vanilla.
• Stir in dry ingredients and oats until just mixed.
• Drop rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet and bake 12 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack and...hey, I said let them cool! Those were just in the oven, you're going to burn your -- oh well, don't say I didn't warn you.
• Enjoy with that cup of tea we talked about earlier. It will give you warm cookie tummy. You can thank me later.