Friday, March 01, 2013

The 3-ingredient cookie

Banaani-kaerahelbeküpsised / Banana and oat morsels (the 2-ingredient cookie)
An excellent version with oats, bananas, dried cranberries and grated orange zest.

Have you heard about those three-ingredient cookies consisting of nothing but bananas, oats and an optional fill-in (chocolate, raisins or nuts, for instance)? No added sugar. No added fat. Suitable for vegans and all those on lactose-free, casein-free, gluten-free*, egg-free, dairy-free diets. Take 2 minutes of prep work and need about 15 minutes in the oven. That's less than it takes to unpack your regular grocery bags, so they're super-quick as well.

* You need to make sure you use certified gluten-free oats, also called 'pure oats'. 
Banaani-kaerahelbeküpsised / 3-ingredient cookie (bananas, oats, currant raisins)

I came across the recipe in The Burlap Bag. As the author Lauren notes, even if you eat all of those, you've basically consumed 2 bananas and a cup of oats, so this qualifies as health food in my opinion. They are soft and slightly chewy. They're not the best-oat-cookies-in-the-world (these are!), but they're pretty moreish and satisfying. Flavour- and texture-wise, these remind me of those soft apple and oat drops I've been making, just much quicker and simpler.

My two older kids love them (Karoliine, our youngest, is still to young to have any solids), and the grown-ups are pretty fond of them, too:

 Aksel with his 3-ingredient cookie

So here's the recipe. Again, a huge thank you goes out to The Burlap Bag for this great 'cookie' idea. Come autumn, I'll try their Autumn 2-ingredient Cookie, using pure pumpkin pureé.

Use really ripe bananas for making these - the riper your bananas, the sweeter the cookies.

3-ingredient oat cookies
(Kaerahelbeküpsised)
Makes about 16 bite-sized morsels

2 ripe medium-sized bananas
200 ml (4/5 of a cup) of quick-cooking oats
a handful of either raisins or dried cranberries (craisins) or chopped dark chocolate or chopped walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C/350 F. Line a cooking sheet with a parchment paper or simply grease your cookie sheet thoroughly.

Peel the bananas, place into a bowl and smash with a fork. Add the oats and the add-in (I love the tiny seedless currant raisins):

 Banaani-kaerahelbeküpsised / 3-ingredient cookie (bananas, oats, currant raisins)

 Mix till combined. Take about a teaspoonful of the mixture at the time, form into a ball and transfer onto your cookie sheet.

 Banaani-kaerahelbeküpsised / 3-ingredient cookie (bananas, oats, currant raisins)

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly and enjoy!

Other foodbloggers making these:
Anne @ Anne's Food (9 March 2013, in English)
Martiina @ Tegemisi. Toimetusi (4 March 2013, in Estonian)
Gaili @ Tsheburashka (3 March 2013, in Estonian)
Kätrin @ Kätrin kokkab (13 March 2013, in Estonian)
Karen @ Kafka na praia (2 April 2013, in Brazilian Portuguese)

More moreish oatcake recipes:
My melt-in-your-mouth oat cookies
Cheesy oatcakes
Peppery oatcakes
Oatcakes with ginger
Apple and oat drops

Two years ago: Estonian Soda Bread Recipe
Four years ago: Raisin Fruit Soup Recipe (Kissel)


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simple looking cookies bu these cookies rock! I know that!

MMMMMMM! Lovely to make too!

gina said...

mm.. So Tastyyy :D

Anne said...

It's SUCH a brilliant idea Pille! They're cooling now and smells great. I'm thinking perfect for Titus to bring to pre-school, too - esp since both gluten and milk-free!

Amy Sherman said...

Very cool! I bet these would be good with a little cinnamon or nutmeg too.

Cipri Tom said...

I tried them and the result wasn't as expected :( ... the turned out pretty chewy (although I baked them for more than half an hour)... Do you have any idea what I might have done wrong? Maybe I left them too much before mixing and putting in the oven?

Kavines said...

I was looking for simple oats' cookies recept and I am finally happy to found yours. What can be better (and I could say healthier) than only 3 ingredients mix!