Healthy Banana and Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

It's pretty horrible out there at the moment, and when it is like this my instinct is always to reach straight for the biscuit barrel and comfort eat my way through the worst of the winter.  In many respects, I am like a human Yogi bear.

The problem with that is, come the January sales, I'm reluctant to buy anything as my waist line has expanded so much that nothing in my usual sizes fits me!  I need something that is a compromise between moderating the bad food intake and also satisfies the sweet tooth.  These little cookies are pretty good at that - they have no butter and no bags of granulated sugar in them, so as far as a feel good snack goes, they basically come with their own glowing halo's.

They are not only angelic, they are also remarkably useful for using up some of those pesky ingredients that I always seem to have lying around, like bananas and porridge oats, and as if that wasn't enough, they are ridiculously quick and easy to make.

I'm not sure of the exact calorie intake per cookie, but as the sweetening agents come from pretty natural ingredients (apple sauce, banana and peanut butter) they can't be that bad!  If you are already noticing that the Christmas season belt needs to be loosened a little, these should help. Take out the chocolate chips to make these positively saintly.

They are quite chewy and go down well as a mid-afternoon pick me up when you are sat at your computer in your office, staring at the wind and rain pounding down outside and knowing that you should probably be getting on with some work, but you just don't have the energy.  One or two of these, a cup of tea and you will soon be on track for that Employee of the Month badge that gets handed out every so often in a vain attempt to encourage productivity.  

So that's enough of singing their praises.  Let's get on with making them!  Go and find:

1 mashed up ripe banana
45 grams peanut butter
65 grams apple sauce
200g porridge oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract
couple of handfuls of mixed chocolate chips - add more or less depending on how chocolatey you like your cookies!

These are ridiculously easy to make.

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with baking paper

Mix everything together in one hit until it comes together

Form into small patties and press down the top to get rid of any ridges that may catch in the oven

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, checking every so often.

Leave them to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking tray before transferring them to a cooling rack - they need to cool a bit before you handle them as this allows them to firm up, otherwise they just disintegrate in your hands!

Chow down, guilt free!

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Sansa's Lemon Cakes

In my quest to make the perfect Game of Thrones dinner menu for the next season premier I had to try out Sansa's favourite little lemon cakes from King's Landing.

This is another recipe from A Feast of Ice and Fire cookbook and has been adapted by Chelsea and Sariann from the Lucayos Cookbook of 1690, making these treats an Elizabethan recipe. 

These delectable delights fall somewhere between a cake and chewy cookie and are incredibly moorish.  I test ran these on Steve who made his way through 2 before I got a chance to ice them and insisted I kept some back when I took the remainder to a friends house for our weekly games night.  These friends often get my sweet concoctions road tested on them and the verdict on these was universally positive. 

They have a crisp shell that hardens slightly as they cool and a chewy, light interior that has a light, fresh lemon flavour that is not too overpowering.

They would be perfect for a summer afternoon tea relaxing under parasols out on the lawns of an old English country manor house whilst watching croquet; they have that refined air about them!

Sansa's Lemon Cakes

590g plain flour
470g granulated sugar
90g unsalted butter
Grated zest from 2 lemons
1 egg
2 egg yolks
65g icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a large baking sheet

In a large bowl, combine the flour and granulated sugar.  Add the butter in small chunks, mix well, then add the whole egg and the egg yolks and lemon zest.  Mix thoroughly and keep working it until you have a pale, malleable dough.  Divide the dough into balls about 1 inch across (you should get about 20) and spread them out on the baking tray, leaving a couple of inches between each one as they will spread as they bake.

Bake for 15 minutes until just golden and still slightly soft when pressed on the top.  Allow them to cool on the baking tray before removing them to a cooling rack.

When completely cool mix the icing sugar and milk together until you get a smooth, thick consistency.  Drizzle the cakes with the icing.  They will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.