Thursday, July 27, 2006

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies without wheat, sugar, oil, or salt? You betcha! You'll need a good, strong blender like a Vita-Mix to blend the oats into a fine flour; otherwise, purchase oat flour at the health food store.

makes about 24 cookies

2 cups oats
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 medium overripe bananas
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spray with nonstick spray.

Use a good blender to blend the oats into fine flour. Pour the oat flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking soda and cinnamon.

Put the peeled, overripe bananas into the blender and blend until completely smooth. Add to the oat mixture along with the sunflower seeds and dates, and mix until well combined.

Use a 1-ounce cookie scoop to place spoonfuls of the cookie dough on the baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those look great! Just curious if you could substitute raisins for dates?

Anonymous said...

thanks for the recipe! any idea how much oat flour 2 cups of rolled oats equates to?

Anonymous said...

i'm allergic to gluten, and have stayed away from oats (although some studies say i don't have to).

would anything else be good to replace the oat flour?

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh - you have no idea how happy I am that you are posting sugar free recipes. I am a long time Sugar Busters no sugar believer, and it's hard to get recipes which try to go for no sugar; I usually replace sugar with apple sauce to make do. Also, good job on the no sugar eating! Eventually (if not already) you should feel better than you have in your whole life, when the sugar is out of your system and your energy levels and moods have evened out along with your blood sugar. Congratulations on your healthy changes!

redjane Stephanie Belding said...

Aioseh: I have used amaranth flour in cookies before which is gluten free and it works really well in place of oats.You can also purchase certified gluten free oats which are processed in a gluten free environment.

Alexandra said...

I've found that a cup of rolled oats is about equivalent to a cup of oat flour. I use oat flour in my cookies frequently, and it doesn't seem to matter if I measure the oats before or after grinding them.

Watty said...

Oh YUM! I have two ripening bananas, I'm tempted to try to halve this and make them while the family is gone lol

TY for the recipe!

e-rex the vegan dinosaur said...

very good! i left out the nuts and dates and put in some vegan chocolate chips. they taste like banana bread! even my friends liked them

Jennifer C. said...

Excellent! I made these over the weekend and zoracky is right, they do taste like banana bread. Even my sugar-addicted DH loved them. Thanks Jennifer-shmoo!

Nikk said...

These look fantastic. We're doing Eat 2 Live at home and we're always looking for new things to try!

Kate said...

First of all, I adore your website and will buy the book when I have kids. These cookies were so good. I just finished making them and posted a picture on my own food blog. I folled the recipe exactly and they came out perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe, I know somone who does not eat sugar and is a vegan who would love these cookies.

Anonymous said...

These sound great.

I'm single and don't have children, but some of the things you come up with are fantastic even for a lone bloke. ;) You're an inspiration.

Anonymous said...

Just made some. Fantastic. :) I experimented and they work with sesame seeds in place of the sunflower seeds.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for this recipe! I started ETL about a week ago and wanted something to break up the salads/beans/fruit routine. I told my husband I was going to make wheat-sugar-salt-oil free cookies and he was horrified, until he tried them. My blender didn't grind up the oats quite as fine as it should've, but it was still pretty fine and they came out great. Even my husband ate one happily. I used slivered almonds instead of sunflower seeds and added a little ground ginger and nutmeg.

I know you're a busy lady, but could you post more creative ETL recipes?

Anonymous said...

These just came out of the oven and I have to say I was a little unsure about how something like this was going to turn out. They were great! I left out the nuts and dates seeing I did not have any on hand. Mine were light and oh so tasty. Thanks for the inspiration and the great recipes!
-tj

Anonymous said...

i absolutely love your blogs, but is there perhaps any possibility to get a rss-feed of them?
i do have a livejournal and would LOOOOOVE to see your posts appear on my friendspage, as it would save quite some time for me...
thanks in advance!

Anonymous said...

Hi I was wondering if someone could tell me if I've worked this out right?

I live in Northern Ireland and here we use pounds and ounces so here is my conversion:

8 oz oats
4 medium bananas
2 oz sunflower seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
2 oz dates
3/4 tsp baking soda

Thanks for any help you can give.

Julie from Northern Ireland.

Anonymous said...

OMG! I made these cookies yesterday at 2 and they were all gone by 6. My 9 yr old said they were the best cookies we had ever made and actually jumped up and down when he ate the first one. We used almonds and dried currants in ours but I am anxious to try other dried fruits, nuts and seeds. I also used 2 cups of oat flour for any of you anxious about the conversion. I am curious about nutritional info though if anyone has any ideas. Thank you schmoo-lady!

Jill said...

I made these and my kids loved them. I ground the oatmeal in my coffee grinder I use to grind spices and it was fine. I think I'll try them next time with walnuts. I wonder how applesauce would be instead of bananas?

Portia said...

THANK YOU so much for this great recipe!! All these years making healthy cookies and never found one as healthy or easy or cheap to make!!

Anonymous said...

I substituted 1 cup of the rolled oats with 1 cup almond meal and golden raisins for the dates. They were absolutely delicious! Thanks for posting this recipe

Anonymous said...

I was really unsure about how these would turn out, but was amazed! I've been forced to go dairy and wheat free while breastfeeding my new baby, and it's been so frustrating finding anything yummy for a treat now and then. These are perfect! I've made two batches already, added walnuts for some crunch to the second batch, and Mmmm! Thanks so much for posting this!

Anonymous said...

thanks for the recipe! tried it and loved it!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer,
I made this recipe last night, and surprisingly, I was a little dissatisfied with the outcome.. I did modify the recipe a bit but no more than any other person did according to all of the blogs. So, I am wondering if my modifications may have caused my disatisfaction. First, I had been reading about other people's oat grinding inquiries, and based upon those, I decided to get oat flour but was unsuccessful in finding it. I then got oat bran. Is there a difference between oat bran and grinded up oats? Also, I used 3 large bananas instead of 4 medium and decided to add more banana because the first batch came out really bland. After I added more banana, they were considerably better. I realize these are supposed to be sugar free, but is there any way I could make them a bit sweeter without compromising health? I find myself thinking of them as mini- breads or that they would be better as muffins. Please help!

Jennifershmoo said...

Oat bran is different than oat flour. If you can't find oat flour, try processing regular rolled oats in a blender until they have the consistency of flour.

And yes, this is a sugar-free recipe with just the hint of sweetness from the bananas and dates (or raisins if you like). If your palate is used to sweetened recipes, perhaps they will not taste sweet enough for you.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for answering my questions. I will be sure to make them again now that I know what I did wrong! Thanks again!!

sharooo said...

can I just use regular rolled oatmeal instead of oat flour. also can oat bran be used successfully??

Jennifershmoo said...

No, regular oatmeal or oat bran won't work like flour. If you can't find oat flour, try processing regular rolled oats in a blender until they have the consistency of flour.

Anonymous said...

I have been using this recipe for about a year now and am thoroughly satisfied. I bring them to my daughters classroom and even the peanut allergies can eat them. I hurt my tooth once on a sunflower seed, so i finely chop them in my food processor with the dates. I also process the oats, which creates mostly flour with some larger pieces. For the most part i use the same ingredients time after time, i just change the form they have in the recipe. the only time i have been dissatisfied is when they get too old. so now i make one batch at a time.

i use the chopped dates in the bulk foods section in my local store. has anyone tried using a specific date like medjools? or would it be a waste to use medjools in a recipe?

Anonymous said...

Im sorry to tell you that baking soda has salt in it. My can has 5%- quite alot I think.
Marynne

JOY said...

Thank you so much for your lovely recipes! I enjoy the ones without wheat, sugar, and oil too! That is so fantastic! I have shared some of your recipes with others too!

Joy
Salem Oregon
http://livingjoys.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

OOh, YUm! I made these last night with Medjool Dates and added some organic rainsins. I put some grain-sweetened chocolate chips in the second batch (might be better w/o them actually). These are so good, I can't stop eating them! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I tried these cookies today for my 2 year old daughter and 10 month old nephew :-) They taste great but they turned out too soft (soft as in pancakes, not chewy). I omitted the sunflower seeds. And my bananas might have been a bit too big :-(
Will try them again with smaller bananas.

Anonymous said...

I made these this weekend, but added honey because our family has a sweet tooth.

The honey changed the consistency, but they made great muffins! I baked them at 180C for about 20 minutes, and they came out moist and delicious!

Anonymous said...

Yummy! I just got done baking these cookies and they are yummy. Like some of the others I also changed it just a bit. I used 1/4c of finely chopped walnuts and just a tiny bit of sunflower seeds. I actually wasn't crazy about the sunflower seeds in them, so I will use the walnuts only from now on.

I also put 1/4c of rolled oats that were not ground into powder to have the texture that a gold old oatmeal raisin cookie would have. I still used a total of 2c flour.

They will not be crunchy like a cookie, they have a bit of a muffin texture, but I think that is great! I will be making plenty more and whatever I don't manage to eat, I will try and share with my family!

Thanks for this great site and this yummy recipe.

Anonymous said...

i made these exactly and unfortunately they came out awful! very spongey..

Jennifershmoo said...

You mean spongy like springy? If so, that is correct: they are a very springy cookie. They're almost like a muffin top instead of a typical cookie. This is because they have no oil or fat. The other fat-free cookie recipes I have made have all been spongy/springy in the same way. They are also not very sweet, since they contain no sugar, and the texture is a bit different than cookies made with white flour.

Anyway, if that's what they were like, it sounds like they turned out right. Maybe you just didn't like the texture or taste? They are not like regular cookies, and probably take a bit getting used to.

Anonymous said...

Hi I was just wondering whether I could use raising powder instead of baking soda because I'm trying to limit my sodium intake.
The raising powder has cream of tartar, potassium bicarbonate, maize cornstarch and tartaric acid.

Jennifershmoo said...

I've never heard of raising powder...I wonder if it is similar to the sodium-free baking soda and sodium-free baking powder we have here? I think it would work just fine, although you may have to tinker with the amounts.

If it works, post how much you used here and I can add that as an option in the recipe. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi it's me again. Well it says that its an alternative to baking powder and its free of aluminium, sodium wheat and gluten. I think it might be similar to the sodium free baking soda and baking powder but I'm not sure.

I will keep you posted.

Kirs10 said...

Just made these, delicious!!! I definitely recommend them. Jennifer, I just bought your new Lunch Box book... can't wait to use it!

sharonmercer said...

Thank you for the recipes! I have recently become a non meat eater and have a tea party coming up with a Vegan friend attending. I want to make goodies she will enjoy and honestly, the less animal products in my system the better. Especially with the cruel processing of the animals, I just can't do it.

Anonymous said...

im quite addicted to oatmeal cookies and surely., this recipe of yours looks great.

Annie said...

I really want to try this recipe but I'm not sue if the amount of cups for the oats is the same if I use oat flour from the store.
It's it also 2 cups?

Annie said...

Love your blog BTW :)

Jennifershmoo said...

Yes, it's also 2 cups. :-)

Anonymous said...

For the amount of Baking Soda that is used - it is a neglible amount of sodium

Mine had 15mg per tsp - which is for the ENTIRE batch of cookies.

The daily recommended intake of sodium is 2 grams = 2000 miligrams so the entire batch would have
0.75 % of your daily allotment.

These are great cookies.

The first batch was as per the recipe and was great.

Then I have left out the sunflower seeds on my second batch. Also I used groun brown rice flour and Raisins instead of dates.

Also - I add coc0a powder (from Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company) which were fantastic!

For the next batch I will try Craisins per Cindy's suggestion.

Mary said...

About nutritional information..

I halved the recipe and came up with these numbers:

700 calories
17g fiber
13g fat

I made 13 cookies, and I figure in 3 cookies there are:

175 calories
4g fiber
3g fat

They're very yummy!

Jeff said...

Very good, the first one was pretty good and then I had to eat 4 more they got better and better. Easy to make too. My kid loved them.

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