Looking for something sweet to indulge in on your break? I was born with a sweet tooth and I feel the only thing I can do is to feed it in a healthy way. Today’s Easy Banana Oatmeal Cookies can be your treat the next time you crave something sweet. Nearly every Sunday I spend most of my afternoon cooking lunches for the following week but I never forget to make some snacks for the times I feel peckish!. Sometimes I make savoury snacks, but honestly most of the time I end up making something sweet like this Banana Oatmeal Cookies. I feel if you cook healthy and energy boosting snacks you will do your body a favour because treats are needed and if you don’t prepare something light in advance at home you will probably eat a chocolate bar.
But saying NO to sweet temptations can be really hard…in my office the first thing I see every morning is a pack of donuts, most of Centra’s bar selection and I could go on and on. When I’m in front of them, I try to keep calm and avoid them at all costs! If that doesn’t work, I have a couple of my Banana Oatmeal Cookies ready and problem solved, It works 90% of the time but the other 10%…I’m sorry, I’m only human.
These Banana Oatmeal Cookies are yummy and have a sweet flavour thanks to the banana and a light, bitter taste from the cranberries which I love. Refined sugar, butter free cookies satisfy your cookie craving! As well as the health benefits of eating oats on a regular basis, I’m sure that all of these ingredients are already familiar to you. These cookies are another tasty and nutritious recipe for a whole food diet and I hope to post many other sweet treats in my blog and take care of ourselves at the same time.
Now let’s get started and bake these Banana Oatmeal Cookies! These cookies contain the most basic ingredients that you will easily find in your cupboards at home. To make this recipe, you can use whatever nuts and dried fruit you have at home. Don’t worry, this recipe shouldn’t take any more than 15′ and 1 bowl . So stop reading, go in to the kitchen and start baking! You will feel so good tomorrow when you have these Banana Oatmeal Cookies beside you instead of an unhealthy snack.
- 1 cup (2-3 units) bananas, mashed
- 2 cups (250 g) oats (also can use gluten-free oats)
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts and dried fruit
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- - Some of my favourites combinations -
- Walnuts + raisins
- Almonds + cranberries
- Hazelnuts + dried prunes
- Pistachios + chocolate chips
- Pre-heat your oven to 200º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl with a fork or potato masher until smooth.
- Pour in the vanilla extract and cinnamon, whisk to combine. Then add the other ingredients to the bowl (oats, nuts and dried fruit) and stir until combined.
- Shape the dough into 10 balls, and then flatten each one into the baking sheet by pressing them with your hand.
- Bake for 20-25' (200º) or until the cookies turn golden-brown.
- Allow to cool before tasting, I know it's difficult but they are too soft on the inside and need a bit of extra time to set completely. You can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week or in the freezer for a month, but I have to say they don't taste the same.
- *If you want to make the perfect circular-shape cookies you will need a cookie cutter or you can make one yourself by cutting a ring of a plastic bottle (of 1 cm). Put the ring on the tray and fill it in with the dough and then take it out carefully.
- *If you feel it is lacking in sweetness, add 2 extra tbsp honey or maple syrup
If you want to bake sweet treats for the week why not look at my new Banana Granola Recipe, you need almost the same ingredients and can make it at the same time.
I look forward to your comments and photos on Instagram with the hashtag #shoothecook, they are the motivation to keep me going, thank you 😉
** FOOD PHOTO TIPS **
+ Use some ingredients as props for the photo: You can use some oats to make your photo look more interesting and also tell the story of the cookies you are baking, I put a handful of oats around the cookies for example.
+ Cookies create repetition, play around with it: I love cookies, muffins and all those elements that are very playful and it is easy to create a rhythm in your photo with them. Put the cookies in a pile, inside a bottle or whatever idea come to your mind.
+ Use Earth colours in the background such as greens and browns to make the cookies stand out
If you want to learn more about how to take good food photos have a look to the section called FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS.
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