Good morning! I have to admit that this weekend was a busy one for me, so I wasn't able to get one of my full Bridal Fitness on Paper workout reviews done, as I had originally planned. So instead, I thought I would focus on nutrition today and share one of my favorite healthier dessert recipes with you! This is a cookie recipe that requires no baking, and calls for no straight-up butter, sugar or flour! In this way, this cookie recipe is super easy and is pretty healthy when it comes to yummy sweet treats.

The best part? These cookies actually taste good! I'm the type of girl who would rather eat one really good chocolate chip cookie than 3 lame low calorie ones. Although I often enjoy eating more than just one! These cookies are a lot of both - they're good for you, but still indulgent, especially for big peanut butter fans like myself. Not only do I enjoy these cookies, but my husband does! Which really is the ultimate taste test, now isn't it?

I'm no stranger to trying out the low cal or healthy desserts, but I have to admit that I don't usually like them. I tried this pumpkin bread that I had pinned awhile back, and I was not so happy with the end result. I later deleted the pin off of my YUM board because I didn't want people to think that I thought it was worth making! My husband and I couldn't even finish it.

I should probably mention that these cookies aren't necessarily "low calorie." Using peanut butter as the main binding ingredient, I would say that they're more healthy than they are low calorie. However, these cookies are hearty! They're substantial enough that you really can't eat more than 2 (my husband will eat 3) at a time, and they're pretty chewy, which keeps you from scarfing them down too quickly! Anyway, enough of my talking. Get to the recipe, already!

Healthy and Hearty No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe was adapted from one that I found on Gimme Some Oven!

Ingredients
1 cup dry oatmeal (not instant)
1/3 dark chocolate chunks
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
Add peanut butter to a large pot on stove over medium-low heat. Stir until peanut butter has melted to a warm, thick liquid, then add honey and vanilla extract. Try not to eat it all at this point! Stir to combine, without letting it boil, and then remove from heat. Add oatmeal and sliced almonds to peanut butter-honey mixture and stir well. Set aside, and allow the mixture to cool down for 10-15 minutes before adding chocolate. You can choose to add the chocolate right away, too, which will melt the chocolate down a bit, but I enjoy biting into the big chunks in the cookie so I allow mine to cool!

The great thing about these cookies is that you can customize them with lots of different ingredients! The peanut butter, oatmeal and honey is a great base, and the rest of the ingredients can be changed to suit your own tastes. I've seen them with toasted coconut (which I'm dying to try), dried fruit, walnuts, pecans, almond butter, nutella, flax seed, wheat germ, cocoa powder...the substitution possibilities are endless, really!

Once all of your ingredients are combined, you can shape your cookie "dough" into balls, or just take an ice cream scooper for some hearty scoops, which are then placed on a large baking sheet with wax paper. Put cookies in your freezer for 30 minutes, and then move them into the fridge for another 30 minutes, to allow them to harden up a bit before enjoying. I like to store these in the fridge because I enjoy eating them cold, but they can be kept at room temperature, too, if you prefer.

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