Whole grain banana oat cookies, naturally sweetened with honey, make a perfect healthy snack any time of day!
I’ve got another it’s-good-for-breakfast-snack-dessert-anytime treat for you today!
These whole grain banana oat cookies are seriously light (no butter or oil), seriously moist and seriously tasty.
Plus these cookies are oh so easy. Just stir up the dry mixture, the wet mixture, add them together and bake. It's cookie time!
And that can definitely be anytime of day.
I’ve made the mini chocolate chips optional.
You may be thinking, why in the world would I not add the chocolate chips? Good point. I only recommend skipping the chocolate if you’re serving these to toddlers. Or if you want to pack these and have them not get melted while traveling.
Or if you for some reason are not OK with having chocolate for breakfast. In which case, we should maybe part ways because I routinely eat chocolate oatmeal, my chocolate strawberry overnight oats and healthy chocolate pancakes.
And of course, my pumpkin baked oatmeal with chocolate chips in the fall. Sometimes in the spring and summer too 😉
But back to today's recipe.
Let's get to baking.
Now, I’ve got some notes, tips and substitutions coming up below on how to make healthy banana oat cookies. Just tryin’ to be helpful.
If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.
Ingredient Notes:
- Flour: I use white whole wheat flour, which is 100% whole grain but has a lighter consistency and taste. You can also use whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or use a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat flour if you prefer.
- Oats: Regular old-fashioned rolled oats work great here. You could also substitute quick cook oats if that's what you have on hand. I don't recommend using steel cut oats.
- Bananas: The more ripe your bananas are, the more sweetness they'll add to this recipe.
- Chocolate chips: I prefer the mini chocolate chips because they scatter more evenly in the batter, but regular would probably work fine, too. You can also leave them out if you like.
These cookies are also great with a little peanut butter smeared on top. Peanut butter and banana? Peanut butter and chocolate? Peanut butter and banana and chocolate?
Yes, yes and yes. You could even do Nutella. Wow.
And of course -- and please tell me you saw this coming from that picture above -- they make excellent cookie sandwiches. Peanut butter, nutella or ice cream in the middle - let your imagination run wild!
Last thing, let's talk about storage.
Once cooled, the cookies can be stored in a covered container at room temperature for 1-2 days.
After that, they're best moved to the refrigerator (like most baked goods with banana). They'll keep an additional 3-4 days in the fridge.
These cookies freeze great, too, so you can stick any extras in the freezer. Once cooled, place in a freezer-safe ziplock bag, label and date it, and freeze the cookies for up to 3-4 months.
You'll have a stash available for have a quick breakfast or snack anytime. You may want to double the recipe for this very reason. 😉
The next time you have some ripe bananas on hand, try these scrumptious little cookies. Hope you love them!
Enjoy!
XO,
Kathryn
P.S. Check out all of my recipes with ripe bananas.
Banana Oat Cookies
Whole grain banana oat cookies, naturally sweetened with honey, make a perfect healthy snack any time of day!
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour (see notes)
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a separate-sized medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the mashed bananas, applesauce, honey and vanilla and stir well to combine.
- Add the wet ingredient to the dry and mix to combine. Don’t overmix.
- Add the mini chocolate chips, if using. (Or you can divide the batter and stir chocolate chips into half.)
- Place a spoonful of dough onto a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
- Remove from tray and allow to cool (on the parchment paper or on some wax paper).
- Once cooled, store in the fridge. They also freeze great - just throw in a labeled freezer bag once they are cooled.
Notes
Flour: I use white whole wheat flour, which is 100% whole grain but has a lighter consistency and taste. You can also use whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or use a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat flour if you prefer.
Oats: Regular old-fashioned rolled oats work great here. You could also substitute quick cook oats if that's what you have on hand. I don't recommend using steel cut oats.
Bananas: The more ripe your bananas are, the more sweetness they'll add to this recipe.
Chocolate chips: I prefer the mini chocolate chips because they scatter more evenly in the batter, but regular would probably work fine, too. You can also leave them out if you like.
Storing: Once cooled, the cookies can be stored in a covered container at room temperature for 1-2 days. After that, they are best moved to the refrigerator, where they'll keep an additional 3-4 days.
Freezing: These cookies freeze great too! Once cooled, place in a freezer-safe ziplock bag. Label and date the bag and then freeze the cookies for up to 3-4 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
30Serving Size:
1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 96Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 84mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 2gSugar: 11gProtein: 2g
Cheryl
Excellent cookies - Used Egg Beaters, and I added 1 cup of PB2 powder which thickened up the batter a little and added a nice peanutty flavor.
Kathryn
I'm so glad you enjoyed them Cheryl! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know!
Ramona
Substitute for applesauce?
Kathryn
Hmm, you could try substituting some extra mashed banana and some melted butter in place of the applesauce. You could also use canned pumpkin, but that'll change the flavor a bit more.
Judy
I had two very ripe bananas which were about 5 inches a piece. The wet batter was very liquidey, when added to the dry ingredients the batter was way to thin, like a cake batter. I didn’t have any more white whole flour around, used all purpose flour to thicken it up, probably stirred it to much, the cookies were kind of tough. Next time, if make again, I would maybe add a little more of wheat flour or use only one banana,my cookies sure didn’t turn out like them pictured. 🙁 🙁
Kathryn
I'm sorry you had trouble with this recipe Judy! I know that's disappointing. My bananas are at least that big, so I'm not sure why your batter was so liquidy if all the other ingredients were the same (2 cups flour and 1 cup oats). I hope it works better next time!
Debbie
Wow! These are excellent! I just buttered the bottom of my baking pans instead of parchment, used whole wheat flour, but otherwise followed exactly. They were perfectly done in 15 mins! May add some walnuts next time! Definitely add the chips, so delicious.
Kathryn Doherty
I'm so glad you loved them Debbie! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Erica Hoxie
Tried this recipe out for the first time and they came out soooo delicious! They were light, fluffy, and the right amount of sweetness. AND I didn't feel bad about grabbing a couple more cuz they are healthier than you regular cookies.
Kathryn Doherty
Yay, I'm so glad to hear you loved them Erica! I just made another batch myself to bring with us to the beach for spring break. 😊