I’ve joined nearby gym Lijfkracht exactly one year ago, and the reason that I’ve managed to keep going there several time a week for the past year is in large part thanks to the helpful, skillful and friendly staff there. And so I thought it would be nice to thank them with some baked goods. To provide some guilt-free enjoyment, this had to be something without added sugars and as ‘healthy’ as possible. I am using the quotes here because when it comes to health effects of food, I believe that many warnings, claims and beliefs are exaggerated. Especially those about so-called ‘super foods’. For instance, whether the sugar is from sugar beets or from apples, doesn’t make any difference in how much weight you could gain from them.
But anyway, since the object here was to give something the folks at the gym could enjoy without guilt, I decided to humor the super food mania for once. And so these cookies are gluten free, without any added sugar, without butter, and I even used coconut oil! I did use regular table salt, but if you feel better about using Celtic sea salt (which is exactly the same sodiumchloride as table salt, but a lot more expensive), please feel free to do so.
These cookies were inspired by a post from Silva about a set of vintage recipe cards she had bought in an antiques shop in Boston, USA. Those cookies were made with banana, peanut butter, granola, and dried cranberries. Of course I didn’t want to use store-bought granola (muesli) and store-bought peanut butter, which would include a lot of ‘dangerous’ ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup. And so I decided to make peanut butter and granola myself, and even use organic ingredients. To make them even more ‘healthy’ I also made a batch where I replaced the maple syrup with stevia.
The cookies turned out delicious! The combination of peanut, banana, cranberries and maple syrup works very well. The oat flakes and banana chips provide a nice texture with a bit of chew. Of course you could cheat and use store-bought granola (muesli) and store-bought peanut butter, but making everything from scratch gives so much more satisfaction! Silva, ti ringrazio di cuore per l’ispirazione.
Shanna, I am expecting you to make these 🙂
Here’s what I did…
Ingredients
For 25 (small) cookies
1 ripe banana
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
1 tsp ground cinnamon
90 grams (3/4 cup) dried cranberries
60 ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup (or 1/4 tsp stevia extract and 1/2 additional banana)
For the granola/muesli (substitute with 175 grams store-bought granola/muesli with fruit)
110 grams (1 cup) oat flakes
1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/8 tsp salt
40 grams (1/2 cup) banana chips, broken into small pieces
For the peanut butter (substitute with 150 grams (1/2 cup) store-bought peanut butter)
150 grams (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) raw peanuts
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1/8 tsp salt
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 175C/350F (fan forced). Spread out 150 grams (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) raw peanuts on a baking sheet, and toast them at 175C/350F (fan forced) for 8 minutes.
In the meantime, put 1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil in a bowl, and melt it in the microwave (30 seconds or a bit more should do it).
Add 2 Tbsp maple syrup to the melted coconut oil.
Add 1/8 tsp salt as well, and stir until the mixture is homogeneous.
Put 110 grams (1 cup) oat flakes in a bowl, and add the coconut oil/maple syrup mixture.
Stir to mix.
When the peanuts are ready, transfer them to a blender and add 2 Tbsp of peanut oil and 1/8 tsp salt.
Blend until creamy. It may be needed to add a bit more peanut oil.
Spread out the oat flakes on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven at 175C/350F (fan forced).
Toast for about 25 minutes, stirring them every 5 minutes or so.
Take the oat flakes out of the oven once they are golden brown.
You can skip all the steps up to here if you use store-bought peanut butter and store-bought granola/muesli.
Put 1 ripe banana in a large bowl (or 1 1/2 bananas if you would like to substitute the maple syrup with stevia).
Mash the banana with a fork.
Add the peanut butter.
Stir to mix.
Add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon and the seeds from 1 vanilla bean, and stir to mix. [Store the scraped-out vanilla bean in the sugar jar to give it a lovely scent of vanilla.]
Add 60 ml (1/4 cup) maple syrup, or 1/4 tsp stevia extract.
Stir to mix.
Add the oat flakes and 40 grams (1/2 cup) banana chips, broken into small pieces [or the store-bought granola], and 90 grams (3/4 cup) dried cranberries.
Stir to mix.
Line a baking sheet with oven paper. Arrange the cookie mixture in 25 heaps with some distance between them.
Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes at 175C/350F (fan forced), or until they start to color.
Allow to cool to room temperature before lifting them from the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container if you don’t eat them all at once.
Flashback
Risotto alla Bartolini is risotto with chicken gizzards. It is one of many tasty family recipes from blogging buddy ChgoJohn’s blog “From the Bartolini Kitchens“. He has now published the family history and recipes in a wonderful book that is available from Amazon for a ridiculously low price. (In other words: get yourself a copy!)
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
This is your funniest blog post ever! You should have called them Energy Cookies! I really love when people use brown sugar instead of white because it’s healthier! But these really do look fabulous, and I’m sure they were enjoyed.
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È un vero piacere per me vedere che le mie ricette sono interpretate con tanta bravura! Grazie per avermi citata come ispirazione, ma è il caso in cui l’allievo supera il maesto!
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Everyone, try this recipe! It’s fabulous! The king of Italian/gourmet cuisine posted a gluten-free, “superfood’ recipe- what? So, obviously it’s damn delicious. 🙂
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Thanks, Shanna. The baking recipes I post usually have sugar, eggs, butter, and flour (gluten), and yours usually don’t, so that’s why I thought of you when I made these 🙂
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I am sure your friends at the gym just gobbled these up!
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They are all watching their diets carefully and they were kind of enough to keep some for staff member who were coming in the next day 🙂
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Who says super foods (AKA nutritious ones) can’t taste delicious? Maybe your wonderful post will earn healthy eating a few more brownie points (pun intended). I’m going to try this with stevia instead of maple syrup, just to see if we can’t do without added sugar in any form (like I did with your berry pie, which we all loved (even Isla) ) 🙂
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I haven’t tried replacing the maple syrup with stevia for the oats as well. Let me know if that works, too.
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Is that maple syrup you are using from Vermont?
Bernadette, a Slow Food leader and fan from the United States.
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Hi Bernadette,
Vermont is just the brand name. The maple syrup is from Canada. Strange brand name for Canadian maple syrup, isn’t it?
Thanks for visiting and have a great Sunday!
Stefan
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It’s freezing cold in NY and I’m not gonna go outside today. I’m sure I will make some yummy cookies tonight!! Thanks for sharing and have a fab weekend!
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Hope you’re having a nice weekend despite the cold!
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Could not smilingly resist: kudos to you for having gone to such trouble with your biscuits – especially since you do not seem to believe in many of the facts. Now speaking from the viewpoint of my medical training, nearly 30 years of nutritional studies and still doing the same at three unis at the moment: hmm!! Over 70% of disease in First World countries could be wiped out if people ate a healthy diet. Fact. And excess weight is by far not the only problem. The term ‘super foods’ is over-used and abused for certain! Eating ‘gluten-free’ food has nought to do with super-foods, is necessary for 2% of the population only and sure does harm for others! Lack of fibre and necessary vitamins. Utterly idiotic hype!! The increased use of coconut oil also has as yet to be proven acceptable: I certainly do not have it in my pantry!! Aren’t I a spoilsport!! But your biscuits [we do not have ‘cookies’ in Australia, nor do I remember such from my birth country 🙂 !] do look very moreish for those who partake . . .
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Of course eating healthy is important. But I think we agree that eating healthy consists of variation, portion control, and enough fruit and vegetables (fibre and vitamins). And not of Celtic sea salt, coconut oil, and other idiotic hypes.
By the way, “biscuit” is a strange name for these cookies, as it stands for “bis cuit”, cooked twice. Unlike true biscuits, like Biscotti di Prato aka Cantuccini, these cookies are only cooked once. Of course I like the word cookies, but it has been introduced into (American) English from the Dutch word “koekjes” (which is related to German Kuchen, which means cake, to make matters more complicated).
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The Wife and I expect to see a ripped Stefan when we get over. Great to see you doing the hard work. It really improves one both physically and mentally. Nice cookies too!
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Wow! Twice blessed. Thanks, Stefan, for using one of our recipes as this post’s Flashback and for using it to segue into a gracious recommendation for our cookbook. You’re too kind!
BTW The Visitation has ended without further incident and things are returning to normal, whatever that means. 🙂
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These taste exactly as described. And one can eat to many with a good conscience! They are delicious Stefan. (And yes I did make the peanut butter and muesli from scratch – well – for the first batch. The next time around I cheated on the peanut butter.) They make a great breakfast cookie.
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I really liked them and should make them again soon. You are right, it would be nice for breakfast during the X-mas break (when I eat more breakfast than usual). You may be able to find good peanut butter in a store that is made from peanuts and peanut oil only, it does save some time when making this.
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