Tuesday 16 April 2013

Hello World + Banana Nut Cookies

Oh, hello there! This is my first post, woohoo! Now I know I'm not professional like all the hundreds of other bloggers out there, with all those fancy pictures and life stories and step-by-step instructions, but I don't care, I do this for fun and I hope you guys enjoy my blog! 
To celebrate the birth of this blog, I will share with you a really cool recipe that I have improvised to a SCIENCE! I've made these so many times and they've turned out incredibly every time! I mean, where can you go wrong when you mix bananas and peanut butter? I know, right? You CAN'T! 
 I've experimented and made these a bunch of times, I realized the best combo is half and half whole wheat and white flour. I tried with all whole wheat and while it tasted really good, it was a bit dense. Of course all white flour tasted really good, but it would be nice to get some goodness with the whole wheat. 
Secondly, you may be wondering- peanut butter? Applesauce? Where's the butter and/or oil? Well if you've been on pinterest lately, you would know that you can use these as replacements in baking, which work awesomely! Now, you may say- peanut butter is just another fat! While this is true, (and not to say there's anything wrong with that, I'm not crazy), I've discovered something awesome you may have heard of- it's called PB2. It's basically peanut butter where they've somehow removed most of the fat and turned it into a powder. To this, you add water and it turns into super low fat peanut butter! Awesome!!!!  
Hope you enjoy!


Apologize for the horrible picture, but you get the idea!

Banana Nut Cookies:
Adapted from Skinnytaste

Ingredients:
Dry:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Wet:
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup applesauce 
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water, let sit for a few minutes to thicken as egg substitute
1/4 cup mashed banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Stir in:
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or any other nut, I've used almonds and it was also really good)

Preheat oven to 350°, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, applesauce and brown sugar. (You can do this with a mixer or by hand). Add in the flaxseed/water mixture, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture by hand, and the oats until just combined, and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the chopped walnuts.
Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Before you do this, however, feel free to snack on the egg-free batter :P, it is delicious on its own haha!

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.
Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 30 cookies you can feel good about eating for breakfast AND dessert!





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