Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oat Cookies - 3 ingredients (sans optional extras)

So after Tuesday's healthy banana pancakes - which turned out to be amazingly delicious, I have been very intrigued by the idea of baking with bananas (besides banana bread)! That along with my recent lus (for lack of a better word!) for crunchy oat cookies got the gears in my brain turning.

So I thought ... surely if I could bake a pancake with banana and eggs, I could make an oat cookie using a similar method. So I turned to trusty old pinterest to see if it has been done, I went through tons of recipes, a lot of them called for apple sauce, some called for vanilla essence, flaxseed, almond milk, the varieties are endless.

So based on what I read I decided to give it a go, with peanut butter of course, that's why they are 3 ingredient cookies, but if you don't dig the PB then skip it and turn them into 2 ingredient cookies!!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1 cup of raw instant oats (give or take, depending on the size of your bananas)
2 teaspoons of peanut butter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Using a fork mash up the bananas in a bowl, try to get it quite smooth.
Add the oats and mix thoroughly until well combined. If you are using large bananas you'll need more than one cup of oats, otherwise your cookies won't be very crunchy but rather dense and chewy.

Mix in the peanut butter.
Once everything is well combined, add in your optional extras (apple and cinnamon, fudge pieces, dried cranberries, nuts and raisins or choc chips).
I went for the dark choc chips!

Roll the dough into balls of your preferred size and place them on a greased baking sheet. (I lined our oven pan with tin foil and sprayed it with cooking spray.)
Flatten the dough balls out, they don't spread or rise so you don't have to accommodate for a cookie spread when you place them on the tray.

Pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the tops will go golden brown and the edges of the cookie will start browning.
Once they are ready, take them out the oven and let them cool.

The recipe yields between 12-16 cookies and the hardest part is not eating them all on the same day they were made...we did! OOPS!

At least we don't have to feel guilty about it, it was really just a banana, a teaspoon of peanut butter and half a cup of oats each with a sprinkling of choc chips!

They are surprisingly filling and would be great for breakfast on the go, or a pre/post workout snack.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any interesting variations I can try!!

Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day

Since tomorrow is it's almost Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake day here in London, I am going to share 2 recipes with you...

1 - The healthy banana pancake recipe I plan on trying for breakfast tomorrow morning (follow me on Instagram if you want to see how it turns out).

So since I started Kayla Itsines again today after a few months of being WAAAY to inactive, I decided to try healthy pancakes for Pancake day tomorrow!

I found the recipe for 4 ingredient choc chip pancakes here, but I'll be adapting it a little...

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of ripe mashed banana
A pinch of baking powder

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Heat your pan and coat it with spray and cook.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan and spread it into a circle.

Let it cook until it's light brown, flip it over when the edges are dry and the bottom is pretty golden.  Cook it for about a minute on the other side.

Put the pancake in a plate to one side.

Continue making pancakes until all the batter is used up.

I'll be having my pancakes topped with peanut butter and apple, don't judge...just try it!!

2 - The recipe for the French crepes I made for Valentine's Breakfast this weekend.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of flour - sifted
250ml water
300ml milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Butter/spray and cook to coat the pan

Method:

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, except the butter.

Make sure there are no lumps and the batter is well combined.

Set the batter aside for about an hour is better, or overnight in the fridge if possible.

Heat the pan over medium-high heat, melt a little bit of butter, just enough to lightly coat the pan, or coat it with spray and cook.

Pour the batter into center of pan, jug, cup or ladle. 

Spread with the ladle/swirl the batter until you've made a circle.

Cook for 2 minutes or until the edges start browning and bubbles form in the batter.

Flip (with the mad skills that I know you possess) and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Place the crepe in a plate to one side, continue making crepes until all the batter has been used up.

Re-grease the pan every few crepes.

Once all the batter has been used up, you can add all kinds of awesomeness to the crepes.

We melted nutella in and folded them over French style, and then served them with fresh dark red cherries and blueberries.

Note - I added a little extra milk to make batter and crepes thinner. You can play around according to your preference.

I was going to share Aunty Annies awesome pancake recipe with you but I need to find the additional notes to it, so keep an eye out for our recipe for awesome pancakes.

For a yummy savoury filling in your pancake/crepe try filling it with some cheese, a sprinkle of aromat and a few drops of tabasco, then pop it in the microwave until the cheese melts...AMAZEBALLS!!

What will you be making for pancake day? Traditional pancakes or something a little different?