Banana and Oatmeal cookies; the good for your gullet grub.

You know what drives me crazy?

teenagers (Photo credit: Pierre Metivier)

The teenage stomach.

It’s been way too long since I had one, but even so, the two I’m in charge of are particularly fickle.

After school snacks are critical. Before school snacks seem to have been tossed aside like they were yesterday’s gym shorts. Nobody wants breakfast anymore.

That leaves me with no choice. I must be cunning and subtly savvy. Therefore, on behalf of those temperamental tummies (and yours too, of course), I’ve scoured cookbooks, perused web sites and posed questions to the dog in search of the best way to sneak real food into bellies that are growing too used to chugging sports drinks and protein shakes. Good heavens, we’ve paid for braces, so we’re damn well going to use their perfect teeth for something other than school pictures.

I’m calling them Banana Cookies, but you can call them Don’t-eat-that-I-made-it-for-dessert! if you think it’ll sound better. The point is to get some goodness down their gullets.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Banana Cookies

Super easy to make. Super big flavor. Plus there’s no added sugar because dates are a miracle sweetener from the sugar gods and because bananas arrive as a close second in that race. It’s also wheat-free as an added bonus.

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

1 cup (5 oz.) pitted dates

2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup oil – I chose coconut butter for extra flavor

1 tsp. vanilla extract

* I did two additional batches to add a few other things. So play around with it if you’re feeling adventuresome in the kitchen. I added 1 tsp. salt (all the flavors popped out), 1 egg, 1/3 cup almond flour and 1 cup big, fat coconut flakes—but you can use the tiny ones, too.

Everyone liked different batches. Ugh.

Cookin’

Set the oven to 350°.

Mash your bananas and chop up your dates. Toss them together in a bowl along with everything else and make the batter wait quietly for about 15 minutes.

Chuck them by the teaspoonful onto a half sheet (or a non-stick cookie sheet) and bake for 15-20 minutes until those puppies turn slightly golden brown.

Place bets on how long they last.

It’s just something to chew on …

Now don’t forget to head on over to the main post (here) to see what I’m bletherin’ on about this week. And check out what we’re talkin’ bout down at the pub (here) too!