Sugar-Free Coconut Banana Lime Cookies

I use pure stevia powder for sweetening lemonade and to add a bit of extra sweetness to homemade yogurt, but I have not used it in baked goods very much.  Overall, stevia seems a bit too good to be true, so I have been wary of overusing it.  I have seen it used in a lot of recipes lately, though, which made me wonder, "Can just a small amount of stevia really take the place of the sugar in a cookie recipe?" I decided to experiment with developing a recipe that would also get natural sweetness from banana and coconut. (The banana-coconut-lime combo is one that my best friend from college and I fell in love with in a sugar-laden banana bread recipe we discovered back then.)  I was impressed by how well these turned out.  While getting something sweet without sugar still seems suspiciously like getting something for nothing, I guess I will just enjoy my freebie and indulge in sugar-free treats like this every once in a while.
    

3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
3 Tbsp. lime juice
1 medium very ripe banana
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
generous 1/4 tsp. pure stevia powder (I use Trader Joe's organic one.)

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a food processor, pulse the rolled oats until you have a fine flour.  Empty the oats into a medium bowl and mix in the baking powder, salt, and stevia powder.  Add the  coconut, oil, lime juice, and banana to the food processor and blend until smooth.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until evenly moistened.  Drop the dough by spoonfuls (I got about a dozen cookies out of this recipe) onto the prepared cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool on wire racks before eating.

During quiet play time yesterday (aka Abiline's nap time), Sawyer decided to take up spelling:

This recipe is linked to Fit and Fabulous Friday,  Allergy-Friendly Friday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays , Allergy-Free Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, and Wellness Weekend.