These healthy Banana Oat Cookies are so yummy. They’re naturally sweetened by banana & dates to delight little ones and grown-ups too!
Looking for a healthy snack?
With demanding schedules and limited energy, finding the time to provide our little ones with nourishing snacks can be a constant struggle. Little ones are picky eaters, making it even more challenging to offer them healthy options that they will actually enjoy.
Lucky for me, these Banana Oat Cookies tick all my boxes because they’re easy and quick to make, healthy and my little one loves them. Heck, we grown ups love them too because we couldn’t stop snacking on them. These Banana Oat Cookies are a delicious and nutritious snack for everyone over 6 months.
These cookies taste great because they’re made with the goodness of oats, bananas with date syrup. The oats lend a wholesome texture, while the ripe bananas gives the cookies flavour and natural sweetness. The date syrup also provides sweetness without the need to add refined sugars.
We only need 6 basic ingredients in total and I promise they’re nothing fancy! All we have to do is to blend the ingredients, spoon them on a baking tray, and bake. How easy is that?
These Banana Oat Cookies smell great, have a lovely soft texture that’s perfect for little ones to hold and nibble on. They’re an ideal to pack in lunchboxes for older kids too. Yummy, guilt-free, homemade goodness!
Banana Oat Cookies for babies
Kai, who was about a year old at the time, was happily snacking on some really healthy pea chips at the park. A lady walked by and looked at me disapprovingly. ‘Feed him a banana instead! Bananas are high in potassium! She was all matter-of-fact about it. I smiled politely and let her know he already had a banana for breakfast.
Since then, I’ve been a bit paranoid about what I feed Kai in public because I feel like people are judging my parenting skills. Tomi, my husband, happened to provide me with rational advice, ‘Next time, tell her GET LOST!’ 😂 Anyway, I’m sure that same lady would approve of these cookies as there are a few bananas in them!
More baby and toddler recipes to try:
What is date syrup?
Date syrup goes by other names such as date molasses, date honey, and debes. Date syrup is a thick, dark brown syrup made from softened dates. You can usually find date syrup at the supermarket near the sugar or health section. If you’re making these cookies for infants between 6 to 12 months old, make sure there’s no sugar added in the date syrup.
Is date syrup healthier than sugar?
Date syrup is a natural sweetener that is derived from dates, making it a healthier alternative to refined sugar. It not only provides a sweet taste but also offers various nutrients that are lacking in refined sugar.
Refined sugar loses all its good stuff during processing, unlike date syrup which is packed with antioxidants and essential minerals like potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Date syrup also has a lower glycemic index compared to refined sugar. This means it makes your blood sugar levels increase more slowly, so you won’t have sudden spikes and crashes that make you feel tired and crave more food.
What can I use in place of date syrup?
Stick with date syrup for infants between 6 to 12 months. However, if your baby is older than 12 months, you could swap date syrup for equal amounts of honey or maple syrup.
Ingredients for Banana Oat Cookies
Oat flour is a whole grain flour made from rolled oats. It’s a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour in baking and cooking. Oat flour has all the healthy things oats do, like fibre, vitamins, and minerals, with a slightly sweet and nutty flavour. You can get oat flour at health stores and some supermarkets or make it yourself. I grounded my rolled oats into flour using a high-speed blender.
Date syrup goes by other names such as date molasses, date honey, and debes. Date syrup is a thick, dark brown syrup made from softened dates. You can usually find date syrup at the supermarket near the sugar or health section. If you’re making these cookies for infants between 6 to 12 months old, make sure there’s no sugar added in the date syrup.
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How to make Banana Oat Cookies
Step-by-step guide with photos
Line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper and preheat oven to 180°C (360°F)
Toss all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz until it resembles wet batter. To make blending easier, put the wet ingredients (banana, date syrup, and vanilla extract) closer to the blade.
The batter will be pretty wet, but that’s normal. Use 1 or 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop for each cookie, then use a butter knife to neaten and flatten the edges of the cookies. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, then leave them to cool completely on the tray. The cookies are extra soft when they come out of the oven and will set when cooled.
Leftovers – Allow the cookies to cool completely at room temperature, then transfer them into an airtight container and store them in a cool area. They should keep for up to 3 days.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
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Cheers – Cat T
Banana Oat Cookies for babies
Video
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup oat flour (NOTE 1)
- 2 small to medium ripe bananas
- ⅓ cup date syrup (with no added sugar) (NOTE 2)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper and preheat oven to 180°C (360°F)Toss all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz until it resembles wet batter. To make blending easier, put the wet ingredients (banana, date syrup, and vanilla extract) closer to the blade.
- The batter will be pretty wet, but that's normal. Use 1 or 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop for each cookie, then use a butter knife to neaten and flatten the edges of the cookies. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, then leave them to cool completely on the tray. The cookies are extra soft when they come out of the oven and will set when cooled.
