Celebrate with me! The autumn baking season is upon us! I just love the feeling when the weather cools off, and I can spend an afternoon or chilly evening playing around in the kitchen. I love baking, and although I do it all year round, I feel especially excited about it during the fall and winter months.
Recently I was experimenting, and although my main experiment isn’t quite ready (I’ve still got a bit more testing to do), one of the results is that I end up with a fairly small amount of canned pumpkin leftover.
There are all sorts of ways to use leftover pumpkin, like making your PSL syrup or just mixing it in with morning oatmeal.
I decided to also experiment with making some healthy (grain-free, dairy-free, no sugar added) blender cookies. I tend to think of these as snack cakes more than cookies as they are a fairly soft, sort of mix between a pancake and a cookie.
They are totally delicious and make a great afternoon snack or even warmed up and topped with fruit for a morning sort-of pancake option. In case you got the baking bug this season but are looking for some lighter options that still satisfy your autumn-baking-dreams, you should totally try these!
This was a random experiment, mainly to use up leftovers, that I actually wasn’t really intending to share. But I figure why not since it turned out so yummy.
That being said, I really cannot take much credit since the following recipe is very much based off of this recipe for Almond Butter Pancakes, which I first saw years ago on Elise’s blog and have been making ever since as a healthy alternative to baking cookies as often as I like. 🙂
Grain-Free Pumpkin Blender Cookies, makes 6
Adapted from Detoxinista’s Almond Butter Pancakes
1/2 banana* (approx. 2 oz.)
1/4 cup natural peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
*I always have a big bag of frozen, sliced banana in my freezer for smoothies and other things. So that’s what I used here.
If you aren’t a banana-freezing freak like myself, you can use a fresh, ripe banana instead, but only use about 2 oz. (roughly half a medium-sized banana) or else the texture will be off on these.
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend just until smooth. Spoon the batter in 1/4 cup increments onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat.
Bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes. Then, remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. I will usually eat one or two while they are still warm, and then I wait until these are cooled, place them in a ziplock bag, seal, and refrigerate until I want to eat them.
They’ve never lasted me longer than a few days, but they’d probably be fine in the refrigerator for up to a full week. If you’d like to make a bigger batch and save them for longer, I would consider freezing them.
These are lightly sweet, mainly from the banana. If you don’t care about keeping them totally “no sugar added”, then you could top each with a small handful of chopped white or dark chocolate to make them feel even more like cookies.
I ate a couple this morning warmed up and topped with a little (vegan) butter and applesauce. Do as you will! xo. Emma
Looking for more grain-free recipes? Try our Easy Grain-Free Granola (Paleo and Gluten-Free!)
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Ingredients
- ½ banana* (approx. 2 oz.)
- ¼ cup natural peanut butter (or almond butter)
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- *I always have a big bag of frozen, sliced banana in my freezer for smoothies and other things. So that’s what I used here. If you aren’t a banana-freezing freak like myself, you can use a fresh, ripe banana instead, but only use about 2 oz. (roughly half a medium-sized banana) or else the texture will be off on these.
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend just until smooth. Spoon the batter in 1/4 cup increments onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. I will usually eat one or two while they are still warm, and then I wait until these are cooled, place them in a ziplock bag, seal, and refrigerate until I want to eat them. They’ve never lasted me longer than a few days, but they’d probably be fine in the refrigerator for up to a full week. If you’d like to make a bigger batch and save them for longer, I would consider freezing them.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
These were a huge disappointment. I actually had to check to see if I had forgotten to turn on my oven because they didn’t change at all after cooking. The batter just got warmer.
I followed this recipe exactly (even to the extent of weighing the banana!) but they didn’t hold together and were very wet. Also, not chewy at all. Just a mess (not beautiful)
I ended up adding 1 cup of almond flour, lowering the temp to 325 and baking for 20 minutes in a flan pan, which made a kind of “clafoutis” thing.
What can I use to make them dairy free? You use eggs but I’m vegan.
Thanks.
These look delicious and just what I need to satisfy my pumpkin cravings in times of summer! I love that they won’t be too sweet either! Thanks Emma!! 🙂
Great recipe! When I placed the batter on the baking sheet, it was a little too runny to form a decently thick cookie (could be that I did not use a frozen banana- not sure). Anyways, I would suggest using some form of muffin pan. I used a muffin top pan and it worked beautifully. I think a mini muffin pan would also work well. Thanks for the recipe!
Tried to make these and they turned out more like a paleo banana pancake recipe than anything else. No rise to them and not very much heft to the cookie at all.
I just made these cookies and they are really not good. THey taste like weird egg pancakes. I don’t recommend. At all.
When autumn comes, I love everything pumpkin-y. Those cookies look delicious, and if they are healthy, why should I stop myself?
xx
Renaud | http://xxmuchlove.blogspot.com
I love anything pumpkin and the memories of cooler Fall weather associated with eating it. They look yummy!
Huh? http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5976814
These look delicious 🙂 I always have frozen banana chunks too!
Can’t wait to try these! After I finish the whole30 I’m trying this month, this will definitely be on my baking list… Thanks for sharing!
Vivi / www.avecvivi.com
you should not advertise these as dairy free when the recipe requires 2 eggs…
I agree Abbey. I was so excited till I read the ingredients. Bummer.
Super healthy cookies? Yes please.
And because they’re so healthy it means you can eat way more in one sitting and not feel bad..right?
These look Delish!
www.wanderfreeblog.wordpress.com
xx
These look so great! It’s not very often I find grain and sugar free baked goods, and pumpkin to boot! These are just perfect, and I can’t wait to try them out 🙂 thanks for sharing!
They look so chewy and yummy! Gotta try these!
www.petiteandhungry.com
Yuuuuuum! I can’t wait to try these this fall. Even in a tiny kitchen, these are going on my list!
x, Tyler | http://tinymisstyler.com
Yum! What a perfect, healthy, sweet treat for fall! Getting excited to start cooking and baking more with pumpkin 🙂
These look so chewy and perfect! I love how simple the ingredient list is, too!