Sugar- and Gluten-Free Cookies {RECIPE}
The Story
"Gluten-free, vegan cookies"
~shudder~
These words have struck fear into many an office-christmas-party-attendee, and have given terrified children nightmares about their school potlucks; nightmares where a bite from that suspiciously untouched pile of supposedly succulent cookies has yielded a pasty mouthful of cocoa-powder chalk, held together by some fruit that no suspecting child or sticky-fingered coworker would every willingly eat.
Fear no longer. I'm going to share my vegan, gluten-free cookie recipe with all you mammas who want to make their kiddos lunch boxes more fun and more nutritious, while still making something that your kid (or co-workers) will actually willingly eat.
The three major ingredients that make these dessert snacks healthy are bananas (potassium), chia seeds (healthy fuel fat and brain food) and oats (protein and major fibre).
PS THEY ALSO CONTAIN NO SUGAR or FLOUR!
The Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium bananas
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1&1/2 cups dry, organic oats
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 1/3 cup raisins (or chocolate chips, let's be honest about our childrens' palletes here)
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mash bananas with the back of a fork until creamy (the riper the better!). Set aside.
- Add applesauce to a mixing bowl, then stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Fold in remaining ingredients and let set for 10 minutes.
- Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, then flatten cookies into rounds. (The batter should yield about 16 regular size cookies, 12 if you're wanting them a bit bigger.)
- Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
- Remove from oven and let rest on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
