Since starting my Feast Wisely blog, I’ve spent hours, days, weeks writing about (and eating) food. I’ve also invested lots of time into reading posts from fellow food bloggers. Engaging with other bloggers is a great way to learn what you can do differently or better. And as a food blogger who follows others you’ll be tempted by new places to eat out or be inspired by new recipes…..

Which takes me to this recipe. I’ve been on an added sugar elimination journey for some time now – so most conventional desserts are off-limits. I usually stick to dark chocolate or one of my own recipes like sugar free jaffa brownies. So when I saw a recipe for ‘cookie bites’ (with no added sugar) from a fellow food blogger I got excited.

The recipe for ‘cookie bites’ is originally from Elaine from Food Bod. It was recently posted as a guest post to Butter Basil and Breadcrumbs, another blog from Prudy. What I love about these blogs is that their food philosophy is similar to mine – they share my love of fresh produce, healthy eating, simplicity and most of all mindful enjoyment of food.

Healthy banana & oat cookies

These ‘cookie bites’ are perfect for breakfast, a snack, for the kid’s lunch box or as a dessert. Although I used the two base ingredients of oats and bananas from Elaine’s recipe I played around with the other ingredients. My adapted version is below and you can see the original here.

Ingredients – makes 12-15 cookies

• 1 cup of rolled oats (ideally organic)
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup of almonds or other nuts (hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts would work well)
• 1 tsp of cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp of coconut flakes or desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp of spices (one or more of nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon)
• 1 tbsp each of chia seeds and flaxseeds (optional) – see note 1
• Natural sweetener like stevia to taste – see note 2

Notes

1. If you don’t add chia seeds or flaxseeds then increase the amount of nuts to 1/2 a cup.
2. I didn’t include dried fruit (Elaine does) – to make up for the lost natural sweetness I included a little stevia.
3. Elaine adds a pinch of salt – I forgot to do this and didn’t miss it but will try adding a little salt next time.

Method

• Add the bananas and oats to a large bowl and mix well (using clean hands or a masher).
• Add the nuts and flaxseeds to a pestle and mortar and ground until the nuts have broken down (you could save time by substituting with almond meal and flaxseed meal).
• Add the spices, chia seeds, coconut and salt to the nut mixture.
• Combine the spice and nut mixture with the banana and oats and mix everything well.
• Line an oven tray with baking paper. Using a spoon scoop tablespoon sized amounts of cookie mix onto the oven tray.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C (350F) for 15-20 minutes or until they look crunchy and start to brown (don’t let them burn).
• Once out of the oven allow to cool on a wire rack and then store in a container (they keep well for a good few days).

Serve with natural yoghurt, cream or if you’re feeling naughty vanilla ice cream.

Thanks again to Elaine for inspiring me – this is going to be a regular in my kitchen. You can see Elaine’s Food Bod blog here.

By Feast Wisely

Other recipes you might like:

• Sugar free nutty jaffa brownies
• Mini chocolate & hazelnut cheesecakes
• My rhubarb crumble recipe – only 4 essential ingredients
• No added sugar nutty chocolate-oat cookies
• Creamy vanilla ice cream