Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you prefer chewy cookies or crunchy cookies? I normally like the crunchy type but occasionally I'd find a soft chewy type which I really like such as this Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie from well known bloggers Two Peas and their Pod. 

I was thrilled to find all my favourite ingredients rolled into one cookie - oatmeal, bananas and chocolate chips! Use really ripened bananas and that really adds to the sweetness of the cookies so I reduced the sugar a little and find that its still sweet enough. 

The oatmeal adds extra fiber and the chocolate chips add extra that extra something special. My kids really liked these cookies. 

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies (About 40 small cookies)
Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

Note: The texture of this cookie is not crispy - it is soft and chewy.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars, mix until smooth. Add in vanilla extract and egg. Next, add the banana. Beat well.
• Slowly add in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
• Drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper or Silcone baking mats.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Chocolate Granola Bars

There's nothing in this world that beats a chocolate granola bar! Okay, that sounds like an exaggeration but biting into a really good chocolate granola bar is highly satisfying.  

And nothing beats home made ones - loving mixed and baked in the oven with the best ingredients...

 ... and coated with a thick layer of good quality chocolate. 

The final product!

It's typically gets eaten up by the family in a matter of days!

Chocolate Granola Bars 

Pioneer Woman's recipe

Ingredients

• 6 cups Rolled Oats (not Quick Oats)
• 4 tbsp Butter, Melted, Plus More For Greasing (I substituted with 4 tbsp olive oil)
• ¼ cups Vegetable Or Canola Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ½ cups Honey
• ¼ cups Apple Juice
• ¼ cups Molasses (I substituted with 1/4 cup maple syrup)
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1-½ cup Rice Krispies (I substituted with 1-1/2 cup Buckwheat Puffs)
• 1 cup Wheat Germ (I substituted with 1 cup grounded flax seeds)
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• ¼ cups Roughly Chopped Almonds
• 8 ounces, weight Milk Chocolate Or Chocolate Almond Bark, Melted (optional) 

Method 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a bowl, toss the oats with the canola oil, melted butter and salt. Spread the mixture out on 2 baking sheets and toast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, shaking the pan twice and making sure they don’t burn. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
• In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, apple juice and molasses. Heat the mixture slowly, stirring until all combined. Stir in the vanilla.
• Toss together the toasted oats, rice cereal, wheat germ, pecans and almonds. Pour in the sugar mixture, stirring as you pour. Toss to combine; it will be sticky!
• Press into 1 baking sheet (thoroughly greased with butter, or line pan with foil and grease foil) and bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut pieces with a sharp knife and remove from the pan.
• Dip the cooled granola bars straight into the melted chocolate so that the top is plain and the bottom is chocolate-covered. Set on parchment until set, sticking in the fridge to hasten this along if necessary.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Vivian of Vivian Pang’s Kitchen.

Granola Master Recipe

I have an entire family of oat lovers - my kids (fortunately!) love this healthy grain served in a variety of ways: as granola, granola bars or as muesli (oats soaked in milk overnight). Granola doesn't sit around very long in my house and I have been making it very often since I discovered how easy peasy it is to do so. I am just so happy that I no longer have to spend good money on those expensive boxes at the supermarkets. 

The great thing about home made granola is that you can use the best quality ingredients (for example, organic oats, dried fruits and nuts) and control the amount of sugar and oil that goes in. The end product tastes amazingly store-bought. I found this Granola Master Recipe on Chubby Hubby and its a great master recipe because you can swap the ingredients for whatever else you fancy as long as the proportions stay about the same. 

The rolled oats, sunflower seeds and the pumpkin seeds are non-negotiable as in they form the base of the granola but beyond that, you can add in any type of nuts or dried fruits. I've used whatever I can find in my pantry - from cashews, macadamias to walnuts and brazil nuts; and for dried fruits, cranberries, apricots and raisins as well as buckwheat puffs. I doubt I'd ever buy those boxed granola ever again!

Granola Master Recipe (1 kg)

Recipe from Chubby Hubby

• 300 g (3 cups) rolled oats (or equal parts rolled barley/rolled spelt and rolled oats)
• 125 g (1 cup) raw pumpkin seeds
• 130 g (1 cup) sunflower seeds
• 50 g (1 cup) unsweetened coconut chips (optional) - I didn't use)
• 125 g raw macadamias or other nut of your choice (I used walnuts)
• 90 g raw cashews or other nut of your choice 
• 85 g (packed ½ cup) light brown sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) maple syrup, Grade B
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil or coconut oil
• 75 g (about ½ cup) raisins or cranberries (optional)
• 2 tbs chia seeds or flax seeds (optional)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 150° Celsius using the convection/fan setting. Line a baking plan with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut chips, macadamias, cashews, light brown sugar, and salt. Stir to mix. Add the olive oil and maple syrup, and stir until well combined. Spread the mixture in an even layer on the prepared sheet pan. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until the granola is golden brown and toasted, about 55 minutes.
• Place on a rack to cool completely. Stir in raisins and chia seeds. Store in an airtight container.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen from My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Vivian of Vivian Pang’s Kitchen.

Cranberry-Oatmeal-Walnut Cake

The Cranberry-Oatmeal Walnut Cake from the book Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet and Savory by Lou Seibert Pappas is the next bake for the members of The Home Bakers. The Home Bakers  is hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. If you are keen to join us, please contact Joyce. 

This is one of those healthier bakes from this book as its full of the goodness of oats and uses low fat yoghurt and oil. The texture is moist and slightly chewy and the flavour develops as its kept so it tasted better after a couple of days than when it was fresh out of the oven. 

The recipe called for fresh or frozen cranberries but its impossible to find those locally so I've had to make do with dried ones. Dried one tend to be sweeter and it was just as well as this cake wasn't very sweet so the dried cranberries became some sort of a sweetener.  The walnuts provided an extra crunch which went well with the cranberries. 

The texture of this cake is not the typically light and fluffy type. Due to the addition of oats, it was a little dense but my family enjoyed it nonetheless. Kit of I-Lost in Austen is the host of this bake, please go to her blog for the full recipe. 

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe caught my eye because I have a couple of blocks of salted butter sitting in my refrigerator waiting to be used. I have a family of oat lovers but I am not so sure about oat meal cookies - I've always thought they won't taste too good. 

These turned out to be so delicious - my kids were literally eating up them by the dozens, and it lasted all but three days in the house. One can hardly taste the oat meal at all. This recipe produces a cookie which is crisp  on the outside but chewy inside. Nuts and dried cranberries added an additional dimension to these cookies - a little more crunch and sweetness. 

The Pioneer Woman says that brown sugar, not the oats, is the star ingredient of these cookies. I'd have to agree with her, the brown sugar added that extra but subtle depth.  They were very addictive and I'll be making another batch soon. 

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies (Makes 48 small cookies)

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 113 g of salted butter, softened
• 1 cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 whole egg
• 3/4 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats (I used 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup walnuts)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (my own addition)

Method 

• Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C)
• In the bowl of an electric mixer (or using a hand mixer) beat together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each one.
• Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Add it into the creamed mixture in 2 to 3 batches, mixing it until just combined. Mix in the oats, nuts and cranberries until just combined.
• Use your preferred size cookie scoop (or a regular spoon) to drop portions of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, spacing them a couple inches apart. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until dark and chewy. If you'd like a crispier cookie, just cook a little longer!
• Let them cool slight on the pan after removing from the oven, then transfer the cookies onto a plate for serving.

This is for Cook Like A Star hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake.