I thought I would try a variation to the banana oatmeal cookies I normally make my one year old. You know, those simple ones that just amount to smashing a banana and adding oatmeal and raisins. He loves his banana raisin cookies, but I've been thinking of changing it up. And boy, these ended up smelling and tasting like apple pie - only these are much healthier! No butter and very little sugar. These are amazingly good too :)
I started by peeling and chopping an apple, until the pieces were pretty small - no bigger than a large pea. (This is a no-measuring recipe, my favorite kind. Just keep dumping things in until it looks good and holds together nicely). I used about 3/4 of a large apple (it had a spot I had to cut off).
I added a single serve packet of organic unsweetened applesauce. You could use whatever you have, but I have to be careful that the only thing in his apple sauce is apples. I also added a little cinnamon - maybe about a teaspoon, and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. Then I mixed that all together. YUM this smelled good. You could add a little nutmeg if you like the extra spice, but I didn't think the one year old needed it.
I put maybe a cup of oats in my chopper and chopped them up awhile.
This is what it looked like when I stopped. I wasn't going for "flour" just for a smaller oat - so the cookies would be a little smoother. But usually I just throw the oats in with the fruit and stir. It works either way. So I added that to the fruit mixture, gave it a good stir, and used the spoon to drop cookies onto my baking stone.
The ones in the front are banana raisin cookies which I made since I had a lone banana, and extra space on the cookie sheet. These cookies don't spread at all, so they can be placed right next to each other on your cookie sheet.
While we're at it, I'll tell you these cookies are not crispy - they are more chewy - more cakey if that makes sense - only they're pretty dense. If you are looking for a recipe that really resembles that cookie texture, this is NOT it. But they are good, and they are not too sweet - exactly what I want to feed my "allergic to everything" child. I make them mostly because they are something he can eat with his hands, and he can have them for breakfast or any other meal. They are also a huge hit for daycare snack time - either just for him, or for everyone. It's hard for him when everyone else gets crackers or store-bought treats and he can't have any. I also have to pack everything with us for him when we eat out, and these are easy to grab and go. Bonus - all he is eating is oatmeal and fruit. Definitely a healthy option. Even if he eats the whole batch all he has had is a cup of oatmeal and 3/4 of an apple.
This is what they look like 15 minutes of baking at 350. I found that the banana cookies were done after that amount of time, but the apple cookies (thanks to the wetness of the applesauce) needed another 4-5 minutes in the oven. And now that they have cooled, I find that they're still pretty sticky so they probably could have gone even longer than that. The apple cookies smell like apple pie too and have that amazing apple pie flavor. Holy cow, these were good. They are way better than the banana cookies. I see baking a lot of these in my future ;) And they're vegan too, so when my 22 year old comes to visit, I'll make them for him too.
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