If your family is anything like mine, your kids will be begging for dessert every night.

The problem with desserts is that they can fill kid’s bellies with tons of sugar right before bed, and the high cost of the ingredients can break your budget.

Having a recipe for a simple, healthy dessert made from ingredients you have on hand will help meet everyone’s needs. Full of fiber and sweetened with honey, this cake recipe is nutritious, filling, and cheap to make. Kudos to my wife for creating this knock-out dessert that satisfies the sweet tooth and fits our budget.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

• 1 cup of oats, cooked in 2 cups of water and left to cool
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of honey (or agave nectar for a vegan version)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cook the oatmeal on the stove, just like for breakfast, and set it aside to cool. Preheat the oven  to 350°. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl, and grease a square cake pan (we like to use coconut oil).

When the oatmeal has cooled (not cold, just cooled from simmering), mix in the honey and peanut butter and add to the other ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips (if you want the chips to stay separate, you’ll have to wait for the oats to cool. Otherwise, you get chocolate swirl cake.)

Pour into the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Serve hot for a treat with ice cream (think hot fudge sundae), or cool it completely and serve as cake.

When your kids beg for dessert, make them Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake.

You’ll be amazed at how simple and cheap it is to make a high fiber, totally satisfying dessert from ingredients that you already have on hand.

Image: SMercury98 at Flickr under a Creative Commons License