Monday, November 10, 2008

I have been looking for healthy snack recipes and I found these wonderfully delicious cookies.

They taste so yummy you might expect them to be bad for you. They are naturally sweet on their own but just a little bland so last time I added 1/2 cup of brown sugar to help the taste and it seemed to do the trick. These really are very good. I got this from allrecipes.com. If you bake these make sure that you cook them long enough. When they are properly done the bottoms carmalize into a thicker texture. Make them small too. They do not spread out so you have to press them down flat.







Healthy Banana Cookies


INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, oil, and vanilla. Mix well, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown.



Here is another recipe from quakeroats.com. I haven't actually tried these yet but I have made a similar granola recipe and these look like they would be a lot better. It was hard to get the other ones to stick together. I am going to see if I can make them with the girls this week.


snackin' granola bars
ingredients

3-1/2 cups Quaker® Oatmeal, toasted
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup honey, corn syrup, or molasses
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
preparation
1. Combine all the ingredients; mix well. Press firmly into well greased 15-1/2x10-1/2-inch jelly roll pan. Bake in preheated moderate oven (350° F) about 20 minutes. Cool; cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in cool dry place or in refrigerator.

notes and cook tips
To bake in 13x9-inch baking pan, bake in preheated oven (325 degrees F), 30 to 35 minutes. To bake in 13x9-inch glass baking dish, bake in preheated oven (300 degrees F), 30-35 minutes.

variations
Add 1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut. Substitute one 6-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces for 1/2 cup raisins.
Substitute 1/2 cup sunflower seed for 1/2 cup nuts.