peanut butter & banana trail cookies
/
Update 2022: I had written this post about a topic that was important to me at the time but my life has taken a completely different (downward? Probably) direction. This is a really great easy, vegan and super tasty recipe so I didn’t want to be avoiding it because of how I feel about that topic now. Thanks for understanding :)
Also funny how in the recipe notes below I say I don’t like PB… it’s probably the only nut butter I eat anymore. So feel free to adjust to your current taste + mood ❤️
Trail cookies, in the spirit of (prospective) summery events like picnics, road trips, hikes etc. These cookies travel well and use aaalll the pantry staples, so you can pretty much make them now. You probably have some black bananas somewhere... Aaaalso I originally made this for my baby Suzi's second anniversary waaay back in early May; that is the day she came to us two years ago. My monkeys go crazy for the pb + banana combination but if I was making these for myself I'd probably use any nut butter but pb (I'm not crazy about it) so feel free to switch in any nut/seed butter you/your dogs/your kids like, but just be sure that it's the totally natural variety (palm oil, sugar and salt are meh* ok) and reasonably smooth (stir the oil back in). I somehow managed to make these cookies gluten and egg free, which is incredibly rare for me, but if gluten isn't an issue, feel free to use spelt flour or even whole wheat in place of the flour + flax meal. If you are going the gf route, the flax meal is really good as a binder/absorbing agent, so I wouldn't replace it. You can just whizz flax seeds in a blender/food processor or similar handy tool. And bananas are the only sweet thing here, so make sure they're super ripe, they won't be overpowering. I hope you try these little pucks this summer, they come together super fast and are probably the most virtuous cookie around. Thank you guys for your patience (and support), I can't wait to be back here (and in the kitchen) a bit more regularly.
Love and cookies xx
*meh is such a great adjective, am I right?
peanut butter and banana trail cookies
makes 15-18 medium cookies // gluten free + vegan (how did that happen??)
3/4 cup (75g) oat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (75g) (gf if needed)
1/4 cup flax meal (28g) (ground flax seeds)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 medium sized, super ripe bananas
1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) natural peanut butter / nut butter of choice
1 tablespoon coconut oil, solid is fine
Preheat the oven to 200'C, 390'F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, flax meal, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
In another large bowl mash your peeled bananas with a fork till they're pulpy, a little chunky is fine. Add the pb, coconut oil and vanilla, then stir well with a wooden spoon so the batter is smooth.
Pour the wet mix into the dry and stir firmly with a wooden spoon until well combined. Using a medium cookie scoop or a heaped tablespoon of dough, place mounds of dough on the cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie (moist hands work well here) so they're more like flat pucks. They don't spread much, so you won't need to leave huge amounts of space between.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until set and slightly golden. Cool on a wire rack, or enjoy warm.
The cookies will keep well in an airtight container for 5 days and will travel great too.
on-the-go snacks
