Oat, Banana & Apricot Cookies
Sweetened only with fruit; soft and chewy.
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe bananas
- 150g rolled oats
- 50g dried apricots, chopped
- 30g pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of sea salt
Nutritional breakdown
Approx per cookie
- Calories
- 105 kcal
- Protein
- 3g
- Carbohydrates
- 14g
- Fibre
- 2.5g
- Fats
- 4g
- Sugar
- 5.5g (from the fruit)
- Sodium
- 20mg
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F, gas 4) and line a baking tray.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl until almost smooth, then stir in the almond butter and vanilla extract.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Leave for 5 minutes so the oats and flaxseed absorb some moisture.
- Spoon 12 mounds onto the tray and flatten each to about 1cm thick; they won’t spread out.
- Bake for 15–18 minutes until the cookies are golden at the edges.
- Cool on the tray; they firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight tin for up to 3 days, or freeze.
Gut health benefits
Bananas: Natural sweetness plus fibres, including pectin, used by gut microbes.
Oats: Beta-glucan, a soluble fibre that feeds beneficial bacteria.
Apricots: Fibre and polyphenols, plus a chewy sweetness that replaces added sugar.
Seeds and almond butter: Fibre, healthy fats and protein, helping keep blood sugar steadier.
Gut bacteria supported
Bifidobacterium: Fed by oat beta-glucan and banana fibre, supporting healthy digestion.
Roseburia & Faecalibacterium prausnitzii: Butyrate producers supported by fibre from oats, seeds and fruit. Butyrate, the main fuel for the cells lining your colon, helps keep the gut barrier strong and may help calm inflammation.
Want to know more about these microbes? Read The Gut-Health Top Ten.
From The Gut Health Cookbook
More than 35 recipes, a 10-day gut health reset and 3 months of the NutriScanner® Gut Health app in every copy.
This recipe also appears on nutriscanner.app, where you can score your own cooking with the NutriScanner app.
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