Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies are made with zero added sugar, so they’re the perfect healthy breakfast cookie for toddlers AND adults! They’re a chewy banana oatmeal cookie made with apple butter and dates for natural sweetness.

*Please note* this post was originally published in 2017. The text has since been redone but the recipe remains the same.

Now that Wally is eating a lot more solid food, I’m always on the hunt for baby-friendly snack recipes that are chock-full of wholesome ingredients and contain little to no refined sugars, but are also tasty for the rest of the family. I’m often in a rush to leave the house in the mornings and I find myself grabbing a few snacks every time we leave the house to eat in the car or to feed the kids as we’re out and about. The perfect on-the-go snack has to satisfy a few requirements:

• they have to be easy to pack up quickly if I’m in a rush to leave
• it has to be full of protein and filling enough to tide me over until lunch
• they cannot be too crumbly!! This is where most muffins fail. So. Many. Crumbs.
• the recipe has to be freezer friendly!

These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies won my heart (and stomach) over the first time I tried them. They are the perfect snack for me AND for my kids. They’re SO easy to make (you only need 1 bowl) and they satisfy all of my snacking requirements!

A+ breakfast cookies, A+.

I eat one in the car almost every day, as evidenced by the pile of saran wrap in my car door:

What’s in these healthy breakfast cookies?

For the right amount of natural sweetness and moisture, these cookies are made with apple butter. Apple butter is an ingredient that isn’t super easy to find if you’re here in Canada; I’ve yet to find it in a regular grocery store. You might be able to find it at a natural food store, or you can make your own, BUT I buy mine online from well.ca. It lasts for a couple of months in the fridge. You could also substitute pumpkin butter or a different fruit butter. You can use applesauce, but the cookies might be a bit crumbly.

UPDATE: I guess I am blind. A friend has pointed out that you can find apple butter at Safeway! I’ve also seen it recently at Bulk Barn.

These cookies are BANANAS 😉

I usually jump on the opportunity to make these cookies when there is one sad, very brown banana left in the fruit bowl. The browner and sadder the better! Along with the apple butter, the cookies get their natural sweetness from the banana and the Medjool dates. Keep in mind these cookies are meant to be healthy and filling, so if you’re expecting the typical sweetness of a cookie, you will be disappointed; however, you can always add 1/4 cup of maple syrup, honey or agave syrup to the dough to sweeten it up.

Do you have to use natural peanut butter in banana oatmeal breakfast cookies?

I use natural peanut butter in this recipe, but you could substitute with almond butter or another favorite nut butter. Cool trick – keep your natural nut butter upside down in the fridge. It’s amazing! Instead of opening the jar and being faced with a slop of oil to mix around, you open the jar to this beauty:

Are these banana oatmeal breakfast cookies healthy for babies and toddlers?

If you leave out the flax, sweetened dried cranberries and chocolate chips from the recipe, these cookies are an incredibly healthy snack for young children! The flax is left out because ingredients like bran and flax are not good for the developing digestion.

So, when I make these cookies I add all of the essential ingredients together at once (banana, dates, quick oats, peanut butter, apple butter, hemp hearts, cinnamon and a pinch of salt) and then add pepitas and raisins.

This is where I stop and mold as many baby cookies as I want to make before continuing on to add the other fun mix-ins for me (chocolate chips, dried cranberries, ground flax) and then mold the rest of the dough into larger cookies.

How long do you bake these cookies for?

Bake the cookies at 300 F for about 15 minutes, and then let cool on the pan for a few minutes before completely cooling on a wire rack.

Cookies will keep in an airtight container on the counter for a week, or up to two weeks in the fridge. I keep half of my batch in the freezer, and take them out as I need. They thaw very quickly so you can even pack a frozen one to go and it’ll be ready to eat within the hour.

Happy snacking everyone!

More healthier options for you and your kiddos!

• coconut cream larabars
• mini pumpkin muffins
• healthy banana waffles

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Katherine
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 15-16 cookies 1x

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Description

These banana oatmeal breakfast cookies are made with zero added sugar, so they’re the perfect healthy breakfast cookie for toddlers AND adults! They’re a chewy banana oatmeal cookie made with apple butter and dates for natural sweetness.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 large overripe banana
• 6 Medjool dates, pits removed
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup natural smooth peanut butter*
• 1/4 cup apple butter*
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pepitas
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts

 Mommy Mix-ins*

• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Using a food processor, blend the dates with the banana until combined into a “dough” ball. Add the peanut butter, apple butter, oats, salt, cinnamon, pepitas, raisins and hemp hearts and pulse a few times until combined. Do not overmix!
3. Using 2 tbsp of dough at a time, shape 9 baby-sized cookies and place on the baking sheet; cookies will not spread so you can place them fairly close together.
4. Mommy cookies: Add the chocolate chips, cranberries and flax into the remaining dough. Using 1/4 cup of dough, shape 6-7 larger sized cookies onto the other baking sheet.
5. Bake the baby cookies for 13-14 minutes and the larger cookies for 15-16 minutes or until the edges are firm and slightly brown
6. Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely

Notes

1. *You may use another nut butter if you prefer; almond butter would be great here. I have not tried these cookies with non-natural peanut butter, but it should work fine.
2. *You may use a different fruit butter, or applesauce, but using applesauce will make the cookies a bit more crumbly
3. *These are only ideas! You can try all sorts of mix-ins as long as you keep it to about 3/4 cup. I’ve placed the cranberries in the “Mommy” section as they contain added sugar, and the flax is here because too much fiber is not great for babies under 1.
4. *You may make these cookies all for baby or all for Mommy; simply skip step 4 or step 6 accordingly
5. *For additional sweetness add 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup to the dough. Be sure not to give honey to children under the age of 1.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Category: cookies
• Method: bake
• Cuisine: american

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*Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction