Healthy Chewy Mint Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I LOVE oatmeal cookies.  It could be because I feel like I'm making a healthy choice by incorporating oatmeal with a cookie...or I could just love the hearty texture that goes along with them...maybe it's the versatility...who knows!  Whatever the reason, I love them...a little too much!  I had to come up with a healthy, nearly guilt-free recipe, and fast, before I gained more weight than Santa this holiday season!!  So here it is, these cookies definitely taste healthy, because I did everything within my power to make the cookie part as shameless as possible, so I could feel okay about adding plenty of cinnamon chips in them!  Don't worry, they still taste great!  As a matter of fact, I tested them out on my two daughters, just to be sure they were "taste worthy"...after the first bite, I told them they needed to eat dinner before having more...minutes later, my youngest, Lucianna, tentatively walks up to me, mouth PACKED full of cookie, which she had nabbed behind my back, and quickly shoved as much into her mouth as possible (3/4 of the whole cookie!)  So, are they good?  I'd say ask Lucianna, but her mouth is too full to answer you!

Preheat oven to 375

-Cream together:

3/4 c. coconut oil
3/4 c. applesauce (we've replaced half of the oil with applesauce, you know, to keep it figure friendly!!)
1 c. agave (the recipe is a double batch, yet I used only half the amount of sweetener you'd normally use)
3 "eggs" (3 eggs worth of egg replacer...also saving you 27g of fat by using an egg replacement)

-Add:

1/4 c. unsweetened almond milk
3 t. vanilla
3/4 c. oat bran
1/4 c. whole flax seeds, ground in a coffee grinder
4 c. old fashioned oats
2 t. baking soda

-Mix until well incorporated.

-Fold in:

1 c. Andes Mints pieces (Never had them?  You are missing out on something AMAZING!)

-Bake for 7-9 minutes and cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes until they set up enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

-Note:  This is a double batch of cookies...what I like to do is split the dough up and make a variety of oatmeal cookies...here are some mix in ideas:

raisins
Herseys Cinnamon Chips
chocolate chips
butterscotch chips
walnut pieces
white chocolate chips
white chocolate chips and dried cranberries

-Just to name a few!!  Get creative and enjoy, knowing that you're getting a cookie that's lower in fat and sugars, as well as wheat free!!