This is another of those recipes that uses up the bananas that have been abandoned on your counter. You know the ones--those with the brown spots and the slightly squishy texture that no one will condescend to put on their cereal or in their lunch bag. Rather than tossing out the bananas, how about turning them into Banana Oat Cakes? As they ripen and develop spots and softness, bananas also turn quite sweet. You can harness that sweetness to cut back on the refined sugar you add to your oat cakes. Peanut butter and coarsely ground peanuts (grind/chop them in your smoothie blender, if you have one) provide fat, protein, and extra texture to the oat cakes as well as rich peanut butter flavor. And, as the title of the posting indicates, the oat cakes include no wheat flour--just plenty of quick and old-fashioned oats. You can mix in the mini chocolate morsels if you like, but they aren't essential. I use them because the morsels give a bit more texture and sweetness to the oat cakes, and peanut butter and bananas do seem to cry out for their friend chocolate to accompany them. The peanut butter and bananas are less keen to have raisins in their midst. The little oat cakes are great for breakfast, snacks, lunches, or whatever you'd like.
No Wheat Flour Low Sugar Banana Oat Cakes -- Makes 18
1 cup of quick oats
1 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of mashed bananas (about 4)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of coarsely ground (or finely chopped) roasted peanuts (unsalted)
1/2 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 large baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray or line them with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the oats, salt, and baking soda. Add the mashed bananas, eggs, peanut butter, and brown sugar and mix everything well. Stir in the ground peanuts and mini morsels until thoroughly combined. Drop 9 walnut-sized mounds of batter onto each baking sheet, leaving at least an inch between each mound. Bake the oat cakes for about 20 minutes, turning the baking sheets around after about 10 minutes so the cakes cook evenly. When done, the cakes should be very lightly browned and firm to the touch but still slightly soft in the middles.
