I love coconut – the smell, the taste, the texture. My friend Steph however, does not. A number of years ago, she ensured that she would never again look at coconut in the same way. A camping trip with no parents and a bottle of Malibu cemented her compete hatred of all things coconut. However, I was not on that camping trip and for that I am thankful.
These cookie balls have both coconut oil and desiccated coconut in them – as well as chocolate, oats and almonds. But the coconut makes them very moreish. Unless you are like my friend Steph and have an aversion to coconut!
I found the recipe for these on the wonderful Oh She Glows website and Angela has very kindly allowed me to share the recipe with you all. They are super tasty, moist and quite healthy. I have followed the recipe as Angela has given it using the American cup measurements. You will find coconut in your health food store and while it may seem pricey it is worth every cent. You can use it in cooking but you can also use it as a moisturiser on your skin – you can’t do that with your Creme de la Mer!!! It is solid at room temperature and the measurement in the recipe is from the solid form. However to use it in the recipe you will need to melt it gently in a saucepan. A low heat will do.
And did I mention that there is chocolate in them?
To Make you will need to pre heat the oven to 180C and line a baking sheet.
You will need;
2 small ripe bananas, mashed well, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2tbsp coconut oil heated gently (or light olive oil if you prefer), 3tbsp shredded coconut, 1 cup porridge oats, 1/3 cup ground almond, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/3 cup chocolate chips *
* I used a lovely plain chocolate with orange and almond pieces from the Tesco Finest range in this recipe and it gives a lovely orange scent to the finished product.
Mash your banana well in a large bowl and add the vanilla, coconut oil mix again and set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together the oats, almond, coconut, cinnamon, salt, chocolate and baking powder.
Add to the dry ingredients and mix well ensuring that all the dry ingredients are coated.
The mix will seem a little loose at this stage but don’t worry it will bake up nicely. Take a teaspoon and scoop out a heaped teaspoon of mixture and shape together tightly with clean damp hands. Place on the baking tray giving about an inch between each one. You should get about 20 cookie balls from the mix.
Bake for 15-18 minutes in the centre of the oven until the cookies are golden brown and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight jar.
These cookies are perfect for snacking on during the day as they are quite low in saturated fat. They are not overly banana flavoured either.
They come in at just under 60 calories each and the oats in them means that they are a slow release food. I have been packing 2 in a small bag and popping them in my handbag if I am out and about at meetings. They are super handy for staving off the pastries and sweets between appointments!
Bake, snack and Enjoy! And thanks Angela for letting me share!
Enjoy,
Orls xx
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