Maple Banana Cookies

These pillowy, vegan banana cookies are infused with maple and spices and are wholesome with the addition of a wee bit of whole wheat flour. Unlike banana bread they are light and fluffy and rise beautifully. Fabulous plain, but I like to add in a small amount of chocolate chips or nuts!

I. Cannot. Stop. Eating. These. Cookies. #pleasehelp

Do you have a labor day dish to bring to that party? Maybe you thought of bringing the norm, but do we really need another grill-able item, salad, or bag of chips? Nah. Switch it up with some cookies! If you got ripe bananas, you’re all set.

I had a little extra helping-labor myself while photographing this recipe. Oliver loves to carry around his camera taking photos. It was a little difficult to get some of him because he kept rushing over to where I was to copy me. Baking with little ones is the absolute best.

Maple Banana Cookies

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

These pillowy, vegan banana cookies are infused with maple and spices and are wholesome with the addition of a wee bit of whole wheat flour. Unlike banana bread they are light and fluffy and rise beautifully. Fabulous plain, but I like to add in a small amount of chocolate chips or nuts!

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed well-ripened bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 tsp psyllium husk powder (or 1 tbsp ground flaxseed)
• ¼ cup water (or 3 tbsp water if using flaxseed)
• ½ cup vegan butter, softened
• ½ cup vegan granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• scant ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• pinch of salt
• heaping ¼ cup vegan chocolate chips or nuts of your choice (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. To a small bowl add the mashed banana and stir in the baking soda; set aside.
3. In a small bowl whisk the psyllium powder and water together and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl cream the butter, sugars, and extracts. Whisk in the psyllium mixture until light and fluffy. Stir in the banana mixture and set aside.
5. In a large bowl whisk together the flours, spices, and salt. Slowly stir in the wet mixture until just combined, stir in any chocolate chips or nuts if using.
6. Using a cookie scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheet 2” apart (they don’t spread much). Bake for about 12 minutes until the bottom edges just begin to turn golden brown. They will seem underdone but don’t fret! Remove from the sheet immediately and transfer to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Store in an airtight container once cooled.

Prep time: 8 minutes
Cook time: 00:12
Total time: 00:20
Yield: About 30 cookies

I found this article from The New York Times that came out a couple days ago. It’s definitely worth a read. Veganism for the win!

“The vegans are right. The vegans were always right. The least you can do is shower them with respect and our gratitude, because they deserve it.”

— Farhad Manjoo; columnist at the The New York Times

Easy Breakfast Cookies

These are my go-to breakfast cookies! They are healthy enough to munch on a couple for breakfast, but  tasty enough for dessert too. Nobody wants to eat cardboard cookies, no matter how healthy! These are made mostly with nuts, oats, and flaxseed, and are sweetened with agave nectar, banana, and a touch of brown sugar. Each cookie is studded with dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and pumpkin seeds for a nutritious and scrumptious bite!

Hi everyone! I know it's been a super long time since we've chatted and I truely am sorry for that. Please forgive me as I've been a little preoccupied of late. The last several months haven't found me cooking a whole lot; mostly just eating fruit which is pretty boring and I confess would make an absolutely terrible blog post, but I've missed you all! If you happen to be at all curious as to what is seriously going on with me that I could have abandoned you for so long, there might be a little confession on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds, so be sure to check it out. Eeek! 

However, things will be picking up here again I hope and I'll be getting back into the cooking/blogging world a little more. One of the things I have been making are these breakfast cookies. Each time I whip up a batch they are different and lend beautifully to substitutions. I use different flours, seeds, nuts, and fruit depending on what I have on hand. I love them so much I figured it was about time I put them up here to share with you all as well! These cookies are so super scrumptious and embarrassingly easy to make. I hope you enjoy them as much as this cookie monster! 

Easy Breakfast Cookies

By Kathleen Henry @ Produce On Parade

Published 01/04/2017

These are my go-to breakfast cookies! They are healthy enough to munch on a couple for breakfast, but tasty enough for dessert too. Nobody wants to eat cardboard cookies, no matter how healthy! These are made mostly with nuts, oats, and flaxseed, and are sweetened with agave nectar, banana, and a touch of brown sugar. Each cookie is studded with dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and pumpkin seeds for a nutritious and scrumptious bite! NOTES: *If your peanut butter is a bit runny, you may need to add more flour as necessary.

Ingredients

• ½ cup raw walnuts
• ½ cup raw pecans
• 1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not the quick-cooking kind)
• ⅓ cup whole wheat flour (or flour of choice)
• ½ cup ground flax seed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ½ cup peanut or almond butter*
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, room temperature
• 1 medium ripe banana
• ¼ cup agave nectar or maple syrup
• ¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp maple extract (optional)
• ½ cup dried cranberries (or blueberries, cherries, etc.)
• ½ cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds (or seeds of choice)

Instructions

1. In a food processor, process the walnuts and pecans until very fine; transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in the oats through the salt with a wooden spoon.
2. Add the peanut butter through the maple extract to the food processor and pulse until smooth; transfer to the mixing bowl along with the cranberries, chocolate chips, and pumpkin seeds. Stir until the dough is just combined; the dough should be somewhat sticky.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line two cookie sheets with non-stick silicone mats or parchment paper. Drop 12 cookies on each sheet (they shouldn’t spread much) and bake for about 12-14 minutes on the two middle oven racks, switching the sheets places halfway through. The cookies should be golden brown around the edges, but care not to overbake.
4. Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes on the sheets before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Store in an airtight container. I like to put mine in the fridge.

Yield: 24 Cookies

Maple Molasses Chocolate Cookies

A unique cookie for when you’re looking for something just a little different. These cookies have a wonderful and complex flavor that’s sure to please adults as well as little ones. They’re chewy and slightly crispy around the edges but soft on the inside.

I feel like molasses is underrated. Way underrated. It's a mostly un-refined, nutrient-rich sweetener that boasts big flavor. What's not to love? I've been trying to work it into my diet to replace regular white sugar when possible, especially since it's contains a good dose of iron and magnesium. 

Regular molasses cookies are pretty commonplace, but I wanted something with a little more va-voom. Maple and molasses are such a comforting combination, offering sweet and earthy notes and conjuring memories of beloved holidays (can you tell I'm excited about winter?). However, I pretty much always want chocolate, so I thought oh what the heck, I'm going for it. All in. I figured the maple/molasses/chocolate combination was awful or overwhelming, then lesson learned. As Sarah Addison Allen writes... happiness takes risks. This risk paid off. Oh my goodness... these cookies are a new staple and definitely make me happy. They are so flavorful and rich with a fresh and unique flavor combination that is an utter delight. 

I hope you like them as much as we did! It's been rainy all week up here in Alaska and these fill the house with the most scrumptious aroma that feels like a big, warm hug.

Maple Molasses Chocolate Cookies

By Kathleen Henry @ Produce On Parade

Published 07/27/2016

A unique cookie for when you’re looking for something just a little different. These cookies have a wonderful and complex flavor that’s sure to please adults as well as little ones. They’re chewy and slightly crispy around the edges but soft on the inside.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegan stick butter, room temperature
• 1 ¼ cup vegan granulated sugar
• ¼ cup molasses
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp aquafaba (liquid from one can of chickpeas)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 2 ¼ cup all purpose-flour
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp instant coffee, dry (optional)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. In an electric mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and molasses together with the beater attachment on medium speed until well combined.
2. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the aquafaba, and vanilla and maple extracts. Increase speed to medium; beat until somewhat light and fluffy.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Slowly add to the butter mixture on low speed until just combined.
4. Allow to rest in the fridge at least while the oven preheats. Preheat oven to 325°F. On a greased cookie sheet, place slightly smaller than golf-ball sized cookies a few inches apart and bake on the middle rack for about 12-15 minutes. Allow to rest a couple minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Cool, then store in an airtight container.

Yield: 40

I shared this recipe in The Food Journal by Brighthouse. It's not exclusively vegan but offers a lot of wonderful recipes! Click here to see the entire journal and download it for free!

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I noticed 'molasses' is spelled 'mollasses' in the book... I'm wondering if it is a spelling error or just chiefly british? #grammarpolice #weareallhumanthough