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Finding balance with food, movement, and community for my (dairy-free) family.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

If Banana Bread Married a Bowl of Oatmeal . . .

If banana bread married a bowl of oatmeal, this fruit-sweetened cookie would be their tasty offspring.


Kid-Friendly Introduction Strategy:   First, let me say, if you have children, I'd avoid calling this a cookie.  Unless you've kept your kids on some sort of real-foods utopian compound, they are likely to hear "cookie" and start salivating for sugar.  With a cookie in mind, these may disappoint.  As a portable sub for a bowl of oatmeal:  perfect.

We call them oat circles and my kids eat them with breakfast or as an afternoon snack.  They are based on a recipe that was all over Pinterest a few months ago. 

Banana Oat Circles
1 1/2 cups soaked and dehydrated steel cut oats OR rolled oats
1 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 cup almond meal*
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup dried fruit **


3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (optional)

Directions:  
1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2)  Combine the dry ingredients, stirring well.  

3)  In a separate bowl, combine the  bananas, coconut oil, vanilla and eggs.  

4)  Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix well. 


5)  Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.  


6)  Store in an air tight container for two days.  For extended storage, keep in the freezer and defrost as needed (they defrost quickly).  Because of the low sugar content and high banana content, they seem to go bad fairly quickly at room temperature. 


Shared at Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

*  I grind almonds in a small coffee mill which I use for grinding everything but coffee.

** I like to use at least two kinds of fruit:  peaches, apricots, cranberries, cherries, and apples have all worked well.  I've also found it handy to use kitchen shears to cut my large home-dried fruit into smaller pieces as I like lots of tinier pieces.  

2 comments:

  1. These sound absolutely delicious, whatever you call them! What a great portable breakfast your oat circles would make. I love all the wholesome ingredients and delicious spices.

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  2. Thank you! Thanks for hosting the blog hop. :)

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