These cookies are lightly crisped on the outside but moist and gooey on the inside- just like banana bread. One of the main things I strive for in the kitchen is to get more vegetables and fruits into whatever I make. It is much more enjoyable than eating massive salads all the time and gives any dish significantly more vitamins and minerals. These cookies get a major health boost from apples, bananas, pumpkin and cranberries. Bananas taste even sweeter once they have been frozen so I always keep a bag of them in the freezer to pull out as needed for smoothies and baking. Instead of traditional refined flour I used oats, almond flour and chia seeds- all nutrient dense ingredients in their own right that create the chewy, dense texture.
I like to eat these to refuel after the gym and to give them a little more oomph I drizzle them with nut butter (almond, hazelnut, peanut or whatever you have on hand) or make a cookie sandwich with a spoonful of nut butter in the middle.
- Wet ingredients
- 4 frozen bananas, unthawed and mashed
- 1 cup apple sauce
- 1 cup puréed pumpkin
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients
- 6 cups oats
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- ¼ cup palm or turbinado sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together all the wet ingredients then fold in the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined. Spoon out around 2 tablespoons of the dough per cookie and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.