Thanks to my father who provides my kid with a ginger snap or 3 every.single.time.we.see.him she now has an obsession with cookies. I recently discovered that if I puree vegetables and tell my daughter it’s dip she has no problem chowing down- with just a spoon nonetheless- and asking for more. So along those lines I set out to find a cookie substitute we would both be pleased with.
A girlfriend recommended this recipe for No Sugar Oat Drops. Below is my version. I chose my ingredients based off of what I already had, but am anxious to try some more variations.
Now, I say “no sugar” because aside from the obvious sugar in the fruit, the coconut I used was sweetened.
1 1/2 cups regular rolled oats
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped (I used a mix of walnuts and almonds)
1 cup dried fruit (I used 1/2 chopped dried prunes, and 1/2 raisins)
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the oats, coconut flakes, salt and seasonings of your choice together.
Toddlers are fantastic helpers for this.
I gave the nuts a good whirl in the food processor to make sure they were toddler friendly before mixing those in as well.
Add dried fruit and stir until well and evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit do not stick together in big batches. Because I used prunes mine got pretty clumpy. Once I broke the clubs up with my fingers I gave the whole thing a few whirls in the food processor, too.
Dump the mixture back into the original bowl and mix the bananas, oil and vanilla until smooth.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients,
and stir until well combined.
Bonus of no eggs? She can nom on all the batter she wants!
Take a large cookie cutter and press spoonfuls of the batter into it. Remove cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. My oven tends to run hot so I started at 17 minutes. I think I could have gone a little less.
Now the true test: Will the toddler eat them?
Success!
Two Fat Bottomed Girls 