Toddler cooking (6) - 3 ingredient cookies

It's week 5 of "Little Chefs" link-up over on Baked Potato Mummy. We've missed a few because of being away but are excited to link-up this week :)

So following the healthiest (and easiest!) pancakes in the world a few weeks ago I decided to re-jiggle the breakfast bar recipe I made when Doof was weaning. And here are the results - delicious cookies, using only 3 ingredients - all of which are super healthy :)

• Sugar-free
• Gluten-free (depending on oats)
• Dairy-free

First is the original recipe and below are 2 variations that we tried (and loved!):

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Strawberry-banana cookies

Ingredients:

1 banana 

5 strawberries

Cup wholemeal oats

Recipe:

1. Mash up the banana ("over-ripe" ones with black bits are perfect for this, especially if your kids pick at the dark bits and won't eat them!)

2. Chop the strawberries into small chunks and add to the banana

3. Mix in the oats (I used M&S wholemeal oats as then the cookies were even more healthy with extra fibre!)

4. Leave to stand for 5 minutes - this is important as it softens the oats slightly before cooking and makes the cookies extra tasty. If you forget or are too impatient, don't worry - they still taste good but the oats are a bit more chewy

5. Shape into flattened small balls and place on buttered or lined baking tray

6. Cook for 15ish minutes at 160 degrees in fan oven (180 in normal oven)

7. Remove from oven when golden brown on top 

8. Either eat straight away (they are soooo delicious warm) or place on a cooling rack - they keep ok in a Tupperware for a few days

So there you go - cookies just made with fruit and wholemeal oats. Even if you eat the whole batch in one sitting (hmmmm I may be guilty of that...) all you've eaten is a cup of oats and some fresh fruit. Perfect!

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Pear-raspberry variation

Ingredients:

2 pears

Large handful raspberries

1.5 cups wholemeal oats

Recipe:

1. Peel and square the pears

2. Mash up in a bowl (the riper the pears, the easier this stage is)

3. Add in roughly chopped raspberries

4. Mix in oats

5. Leave to stand for 5 minutes

6. Place on baking tray in shapes of cookies, or bars, or any other shape that takes your fancy

7. Cook for 15-20 minutes in 160 degrees fan oven (I found the pear ones needed slightly longer than the banana-base ones)

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Pomegranate-banana variation 

We experimented with pomegranates as I'm always reading what a 'superfood' they are etc but I can never think of where to put them in my regular diet...

Ingredients:

1.5 bananas

Handful pomegranates 

Cup oats

To show how easy these are to make, Doof made this batch from start to finish. Here are the steps he took:

 

Mash the banana and ad a spoon of oats

Add the pomegranates

Add the rest of the oats

Mix everything together well

Put round or bar shapes on a lined baking tray

Laugh when you accidentally throw some mixture across the room

Be sure to scrape out the whole bowl - it would be a waste to leave any behind...

Then the only bit I did was putting them in the oven (cook for 15ish minutes 160 degrees fan) and taking them out. 

Making cookies? Child's play :)