Healthy Oat and Chocolate Cookies (Delicious, Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free!)

I haven't seen a faster or easier cookie recipe than this one for banana and oat cookies. It's as easy as mashing the banana, mixing with the oats and baking. Just as you read, and you get healthy cookies (and gluten-free) that are great. But since I personally like to brighten them up, I bring you the two versions of this recipe that are the biggest hits at home. Of course, they include chocolate: we're going to make "Oat and Chocolate Cookies" and "Oat, Coconut and Chocolate-Covered Cookies". Which one do you think you'll choose?

The preparation for these cookies is lightning quick. Both the base recipe I mentioned and these versions I'm sharing today. And there's no healthier cookie, since they don't contain a speck of sugar, given that we use the banana's sweetness to sweeten them.

The original recipe, banana with oats, tastes good, but in my opinion you really have to like banana (since with nothing else added it's very noticeable, because oats don't have much flavor...). I love them with chocolate, because it's intense, bitter, brings the oats to life and pairs wonderfully with the banana flavor, which stops taking center stage.

I should tell you, in case you have doubts, that two of my children aren't big fans of banana (in fact I'm being polite; they don't like it at all), but I didn't tell them there was banana and they devoured the cookies.

At the end of the post, I give a couple of little tips I like to use when I make these cookies.

Here are my two Oat Cookie recipes, but you'll have to tell me which you like best!

1) Recipe for Oat, Banana and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana
• 90 gr of rolled oats (gluten-free, for a gluten-free recipe)
• 45 gr baking chocolate
• Half a teaspoon of ginger
• (Optional) One tablespoon of agave syrup or honey*

*The tablespoon of agave syrup is for its aroma, not because you need to sweeten the cookies since they're already sweet from the banana.

Perforated baking tray and De Buyer silicone baking mat

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mash the banana using a fork or a potato masher.
2. Add the rolled oats and mix until the mixture is homogeneous. If you think it needs more oats, you can add one more tablespoon, but it should be a mixture dominated by the oats but integrated with the banana.
3. Chop the chocolate using a chef's knife.
4. To the oat mixture, add the syrup (optional), the ginger and the chopped chocolate. Mix until incorporated.
5. Place a perforated tray, and using a spoon and a spatula, scoop pieces of dough and shape them into cookies on the tray. Make them similar in size and thickness to ensure even baking. Continue until the dough is used up.
6. Preheat to 200 ºC and put the tray in the oven, on the middle/top rack. You'll see they bake quickly; in about 10-12 minutes they'll be golden and ready to enjoy.

Caractere Revol cups and plates

2) Recipes for Oat, Coconut and Chocolate-Covered Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 large ripe banana
• 90 gr of rolled oats (gluten-free, for a gluten-free recipe)
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut
• 1 tbsp La Tourangelle coconut oil
• For the topping: 50 gr baking chocolate and a couple of tablespoons of whipping cream or cooking cream.

Preparation

1. In a bowl, mash the banana using a fork or a potato masher.
2. Add the rolled oats and mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
3. Add the shredded coconut and the liquid coconut oil, and mix.
4. Shape the dough using spoons, and place the cookies on a perforated baking tray (I used the Le Creuset pizza tray).
5. Preheat the oven to 210 ºC and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, until you see the oats have taken on a nice golden color.
6. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the topping: put the chocolate and the cream in a ramekin and heat in the microwave until melted. Mix and the topping is ready. With a spoon, place a little chocolate on top of the coconut cookies.
8. Decorate them by sprinkling a little shredded coconut on top.

ramekin Emile Henry and Le Creuset pizza baking base

Notes

• For the practical ones, you can easily make both recipes quickly: mix 2 bananas and 180 gr of oats, and when the mixture is homogeneous divide it into two parts. Mix one with the chopped chocolate; mix the other with the coconut flakes and coconut oil. All ready to bake!
• For the oat and chocolate cookies, before mixing with the banana, sometimes I toast the oats in a pan with a few tablespoons of honey so the oats get well coated, slightly caramelized, and you get shinier, more attractive cookies.
• Remember that the cookies should be similar in size and thickness so they bake evenly.
• If you make the oat and coconut cookies, you can leave some without the chocolate topping, so you'll have more variety. If you do top them, you can decorate with shredded coconut to identify that they contain coconut.

What an idea!How about making exactly the same cookies, but instead of banana use roasted apple or applesauce? Make the applesauce, mix it with the oats and bake... if you combine it with a little chocolate or liven it up with cinnamon, the combination will be a total hit.

They're perfect cookies for breakfast or ideal to accompany a good coffee. Will you give them a try?