Happy Wednesday, Mamas! Here is this week’s #RecipeWednesday post. (Find last week’s recipe here.)
Before I became a Mama, I did not realize how picky I would be about what my daughter eats. As she progressed through solids and was able to start self-feeding and eating combinations of foods, I wanted to know exactly what she was ingesting, so I made most of her food myself. One day when I was craving peanut butter and oatmeal cookies, I stumbled across this recipe from MyDarlingVegan. With the promise of only one bowl to clean and only four ingredients (this version has five), it sounded too good not to try!
Now, months later, these (with a few modifications) are a workday morning staple at our house. Here are a few reasons I love these “cookies”:
- They’re easy enough for my daughter to feed herself (supervised, of course), so my hubby and I can get our lunches together or whatever other tasks we need to do around the kitchen
- So easy to make (and they freeze really well!)
- Soluble fiber in the whole grain oats
- Potassium from the banana
- Protein and healthy fats from the peanut butter and walnuts
- Antioxidants from the cinnamon
- Very filling
- Most importantly, L loves them!
These cookies can be made gluten-free if using certified “gluten-free” oats (check the packaging). Oats are naturally gluten-free, but many are packaged in facilities where wheat, barley, or rye (gluten-containing grains) are also packaged.
So, here goes:
- Gather up your ingredients
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Mash up a couple very ripe bananas (seriously, mash them before you do anything else, or incorporating the other ingredients will be really tough!)
- Add the oats, peanut butter, and cinnamon an mix thoroughly
- Fold in the chopped walnuts
- Form into little balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- Pop in the oven for about 12-15 minutes
All done!
Serve a few with some fruit (L like berries best with these) and you’ve got yourself a toddler-approved weekday breakfast!
Like I mentioned, these freeze really well, so I usually make a double batch and pop at least half of them right in the freezer (once they’ve cooled). The original recipe didn’t have cinnamon (I think it rounds out the flavor a bit more and makes them taste like delicious banana bread) and had chocolate chips instead of walnuts. There were a couple reasons I changed it in ours.
- The chocolate chips, while tasty, were messy – especially for a drooly toddler or if we would thaw them in the microwave right before she ate them.
- I wanted to expose her to different types of nuts. Nuts can be a potential allergen, so they shouldn’t be one of the first foods you have your kids try (also, don’t introduce more than one nut at once in case a reaction does occur), but research has shown that early introduction of potential allergens can reduce the risk of allergic reaction (look for my post on introducing allergenic foods later).
- I just plain didn’t think the chocolate chips were the best choice for my one-year-old. Trust me, I have a HUGE sweet tooth and I’m certainly not against having a treat now and then, but toddlers need so few calories that I wanted to make sure she was getting the most nutritional bang for her buck as possible.
So, there you have it: our time-saving weekday toddler breakfast! Hope you (and your little ones) enjoy, Mamas!
PS – Did you try this recipe? What other add-ins did you try?
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter & Banana Breakfast Cookies
Notes
These freeze really well or keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 1/2 cups quick oats
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- dash of cinnamon to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Combine bananas, oats, peanut butter, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well.
- Fold in walnuts.
- Form into little balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Enjoy!