3 Ingredient Banana, Oat, and Raisin Cookies

These delicious morsels are vegan, refined sugar free, and gluten free if you use gluten free rolled oats.  Very quick and easy to bake, brilliant for children to help with too.  I make these often to beat the late afternoon energy slump, or as a short notice breakfast on the go.

The key to a good flavour is using over-ripe bananas as they provide the sweetness for the cookies, and you can use other dried fruits should you prefer such as finely chopped dried apricots or dried cranberries.  I've added chopped nuts in the past too, such as walnuts or almonds for more protein and extra flavour.  However if I am planning on putting these in school lunches I leave out the nuts as our primary school is nut-free.

The recipe is easy doubled or tripled should you want to make a large batch, they keep well for a couple of days in an airtight container.   

Banana, Oat, and Raisin Cookies

80g mashed banana, I used one medium sized over-ripe banana

70g rolled oats

50g raisins

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4.  Line an oven tray with non stick baking paper.

Peel the banana and mash with a fork until you have a smooth paste.  Add the oats and dried fruit, mix until totally combined.  Divide the mixture in half then each half into four so you have 8 small portions.

Roll the portions of mixture into balls then put onto the oven tray, leaving about an inch between them to allow for spreading. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until the cookies start turning golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the trays.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.