Soft Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies (No flour, butter, sugar, eggs)

Soft Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies (No flour, butter, sugar, eggs)

250g (about 2 large) bananas, mashed
15g (1 tbsp) unrefined coconut oil, melted
83g (1/3 cup) homemade peanut butter
85g (1/4 cup) real honey, melted
90g (1 cup) old-fashioned oats, ground
90g (1 cup) quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp flax seeds, ground
25g (1/4 cup) dessicated coconut
40g (1/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 160C / 320F degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2) In a small large bowl, add banana, coconut oil, peanut butter and honey. Mix until combined.

3) In a small bowl, stir together oats, salt, ground flax seeds and dessicated coconut. 

4) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Mix in half of the chocolate chips.

5) Drop 9 scoops of dough onto the parchment paper (the cookies will be large). Press the remaining chocolate chips on top of the cookies. The cookies will not spread so you can flatten them a little bit. Bake for 12-14 minutes. The less you bake them - the better!

6) Cool completely before serving.

Serves 9 large cookies.

Recipe by collecting memories 

Peanut Butter Banana Pie (No-Bake)

I've been craving something raw/no-bake/healthy so much recently. Sometimes I really get tired of buttery sugar-packed sweets, they definitely don't make you feel good. Okay, they do, but there's just a short moment of happiness, after which you often feel quite guilty. No no, I'm not going to become vegan or stop making fatty desserts - I love them! But! Can you believe there are just a few ingredients and none of them is bad for you? No sugar, no butter, no flour or anything like that. Just nuts and fruits. How can you not fall in love?

Peanut Butter Banana Pie (No-Bake) 

Crust: 
100g roasted peanuts, ground 
1 tbsp (7g) unsweetened cocoa powder
100g raisins
pinch salt

Filling: 
3 bananas (360g), very ripe
250g (1 cup) peanuts, roasted*
1/3 tsp salt

*Just roast peanuts in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until their sides brown a little bit.

1) Make the crust: Place all ingredients into the food processor and pulse until it comes into a ball. Using your fingers, press the mixture into a 18cm baking pan. Place into the fridge while you make the filling.

2) For the filling, grind peanuts in a food processor until they look like peanut butter (It will take a few minutes, just keep grinding and you'll see how they turn into peanut butter. Easy!). Add bananas and salt and pulse until the mixture becomes smooth. 

3) Pour the filling onto the crust and place into the freezer overnight. Remove from the freezer and let thaw for 10-15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!!

Recipe by collecting memories

Banana Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

I've probably already said this many times before, but banana & chocolate combo is one of my favourite. I don't really like eating raw bananas with chocolate spread on a toast, for example. But when the bananas are mashed, baked, cooked they pair so perfectly with chocolate. For example, my favourite Chocolate Oatmeal, or imagine, banana oatmeal with milk chocolate sauce! I definitely have to try this. Or for now, just look at this Banana Cake with Cocoa frosting. I don't really have anything to say about it, it's just amazing. My favourite part is frosting: I've used it in many recipes and I still haven't found a better cocoa frosting recipe. It's sweet and not bitter at all (I don't like pairing bittersweet chocolate with bananas). It's more like a milk chocolate frosting. But there's one important thing - BEAT it until you really get tired. That's the key to get a fluffy frosting. And for the cake, use really ripe bananas. What is more, I find this cake even better when it stands in the fridge. Actually I highly recommend refrigerating it overnight, it was much better when cold! Only the frosting hardens a little, but that's fine. 

Banana Cake with Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

Cake
113g/1/2 cup butter, softened

100g light brown sugar
100g white sugar

3 very ripe, mashed bananas (~1 cup)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

80ml/1/3 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk or milk

190g/1 1/2 cups flour 

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting

15g cocoa

125g powdered sugar

Vanilla extract

Salt

1 tbsp milk

90g butter, room temperature

Cake:

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a square 8x8 inch/20x20 cm baking dish with oil and lightly dust with flour, shaking off excess. 

2) In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, bananas, eggs and vanilla on high until very well combined. Add yogurt and mix until combined.

3) Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Mix just until combined.

4) Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes before removing from it. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely, then frost. 

Frosting:

1) Beat butter until soft. Add cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and milk. Beat on high speed for at least 5 minutes or until the frosting is very light and fluffy. Frost immediately.

Cake recipe adapted from here.

Chocolate Banana Avocado Pudding

I was so curious to try making raw pudding made with avocado! The internet is full of amazing pictures of this healthy alternative to the ordinary chocolate pudding. What can I say - this was really delicious. The texture was creamy and you almost can't taste the avocado. I just added a pinch of salt to enrich the flavour a little. I added 100g of honey but if you prefer it less sweet of if your banana is really ripe, first try adding less. There's nothing that could make you feel bad after eating this. Come on, what could be better than a healthy chocolate pudding?! I feel like I'm falling in love with raw food. 

Chocolate Banana Avocado Pudding

1 ripe avocado
1 ripe banana
10g dark unsweetened cocoa powder
70-100g honey
pinch salt

1) Place all the ingredients into your food processor and process until smooth. Voila!

Recipe by collecting memories

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

 

Muffins have to be large. So I took my ramekins and poured the batter into them instead of using standard muffin cups. 

I healthified these a little bit. I used spelt flour and instead of all-purpose flour. Of course, these would be awesome with all-purpose flour too. Then I only added a small amount of butter and sugar. But banana added the moisture and sweetness to these little cakes. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
 

50g butter, softened
90g white sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
125g/1 cup spelt flour (or use all-purpose)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
90g dark chocolate chips or chunks

1) Preheat oven to 180°C.

2) Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, banana and vanilla extract.  

3) In another bowl, combine together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

4) Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture just until moistened. Fold in the chocolate.

5) Lightly grease 6 ramekins and fill them with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the ramekins. You may serve these warm or cold. 

Recipe by collecting memories

Banana Carrot Bars (Oil, Butter & Sugar Free)

Here's another easy recipe for healthyish snack bars. As these contain bananas, carrots and applesauce there's no need to add sugars. It's sweet enough with only 4 tablespoons of honey and, moreover, honey gives moistness which keeps for many days. It's a perfect snack for school or tea-time!

Banana Carrot Bars (Oil, Butter & Sugar Free)
50g oat flour

100g all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1 tbsp wheat bran (optional)

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

4tbsp (~50ml) honey

70ml buttermilk (or milk)

1 large egg, beaten

4 tbsp applesauce

1 large overripe banana, mashed

1 large carrot, shredded 

1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Prepare a 20x20cm silicone baking dish.

2) In a small bowl, combine together all-purpose flour, oat flour, baking powder, salt, wheat bran and pumpkin pie spice. 

3) In another bowl, combine together buttermilk, honey and egg.

4) In a large mixing bowl, mix together applesauce, banana and carrot.

5) Add buttermilk mixture to the banana mixture, stir to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir well. Pour the mixture to the baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely and cut into squares.

Recipe by collecting memories

Sticky Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Bananas. Peanut butter. Honey. Oats. Applesauce. 

I can't describe how much I love each of these ingredients. And when they come together I am the happiest person on the earth. 

These sticky bars are kind of easy to make. As they're no-bake you can probably throw everything in a bowl and have them ready in 5 minutes. Okay, you actually have to wait several hours until they firm up and that's a hard thing to do. So I highly recommend making them in the evening and refrigerating overnight. So you won't be tempted everytime you pass the fridge.

One important note about these yummy bars is that they're quite sticky. I considered trying to bake these and expect that the heat would dry them out a little and make less sticky but in fact I'm not going to do this. They're simply too good as they are. Believe me, the taste is so good that nothing else matters.

Sticky Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

1 medium overripe banana, mashed
4 tbsp honey
50g salted peanut butter
1 tbsp applesauce
1 1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup old-fashioned oats

1) In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine banana, honey, peanut butter and applesauce. Stir until melted.

2) Add oats and mix to combine. Press into 10x20cm baking dish and refrigerate several hours until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Recipe by collecting memories

Best Summer Recipes 2013

The summer has ended and I picked out the best recipes I've published these past three months. I thought it would be great to have seasonal favourites in one place so wait for another post like this one at the end of fall. I hope you will enjoy the collection and now let's light the candles, wrap ourselves in a chunky blanket, go to a store and buy a large, heavy orange pumpkin.

For the recipes, click on the titles.

BANANA BREAD

 

 

STRAWBERRY BANANA SPONGE CAKE

CINNAMON COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

SPINACH & RICOTTA LASAGNA

MUSHROOM PATTIES IN PITTA

LEMON CUPCAKES

VEGETARIAN EMPANADAS

SUGAR PRETZELS

BAKED CABBAGE