A Simply Ripe Alternative to Banana Bread

One of my favorite TV shows to watch (and rewatch, and play in the background) is the Great British Baking Show. It is so pleasant and peaceful and inspiring, and totally makes me want to bake all the things.

Julian likes to watch it too - he loves it when the hosts say "Bake!" and he imitates them. He definitely knows that the KitchenAid in our kitchen does the "mix-a mix-a" a la Daniel Tiger.

Whenever I can, I try and bake with Julian - even better if it is something that is easy and straightforward to do. He loves to push his learning tower that he got for Christmas from Mel's parents over to the counter and say "My turn!"


As he is getting older, I love seeing him assert his independence, and try to give him those opportunities when I can. For us, cooking, and food and the quality of it is a big deal - Mel loves to cook and Julian definitely will try anything, and pretty much eats what we eat.

This also extends to when we go out - we will look at the kids menu, but 9 times out of 10 we end up ordering a regular meal and then taking the leftovers (to each their own, but Julian actually likes eating charred brussels sprouts).

I found a recipe for vegan cookies that was super simple, and was an alternative to using ripe bananas instead of making banana bread all the time, and bonus, I had all the ingredients for it in my pantry already!

The recipe is so easy that I let Julian pretty much carry out the directions, minus the turning on and off of the mixer and shaping the cookies. This was for both safety and avoiding mess reasons. Personally, I cannot stand ooey gooey mess, which is why Play Doh is restricted to just the kitchen island, for example.

It is via a YouTuber that I discovered through my friend Britney called Charlotte Queen - when I saw the recipe I figured it was worth a shot since it was so easy. I rewrote it in recipe form below, and calculated the Weight Watchers points for the Blue Plan if that is your thing:

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats (I used regular ones, not quick)
• 2.5 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Nestlé Semi-Sweet Mini Chips - they are amazing in pancakes, too!) 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius (if you have a convection oven, put it at that setting, adjust as needed - for high altitude like me, I learned that baking at the convection setting means that I just keep the temps the same). 
• Mash bananas (I used the whisk on my KitchenAid)
• Mix in oats and chocolate chips
• Shape mixture into 12 even rounds 
• Bake for 10 minutes - 12 to 13 if you want them crispy.

Serving Size: 

• 1 cookie (=4 points on Weight Watchers Blue Plan). 

Julian and I each had one and it wasn't that bad! They were perfectly chewy, if a bit big; I definitely need a cookie scooper. Next time, I need to experiment a bit more to make the oats less dry. Maybe more bananas? I stored them in a Tupperware, but this is definitely something you need to eat within a day or two.

The great thing about this was just baking something that was minimal effort, so I can put my focus more on Julian and not worry so much about following the recipe or messing it up. He had a lot of fun putting the ingredients in the mixer and pretending to be a baker, just like on "Bake Off." Now that he is older, he is talking more and has better gross and fine motor skills, so I am definitely looking forward to doing more things like this with him.