These Almond Butter Banana Cookies are gluten-free and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. They’re packed with protein and fiber and are healthy enough for breakfast. Add a little glaze and you’ve got dessert!
You guys.
These cookies. I love them.
Last week I found myself with 6 overly ripe bananas on my counter. Typically I turn them into muffins but to be honest, that sounded a little boring. Plus I already have some great muffin recipes on the blog like these Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins and these Blueberry Muffins.
So the thought of a muffin was doing nothing to spark my creativity. Cookies on the other hand? Those I can get behind. Since I like a good challenge, I decided to attempt a relatively healthy cookie- one I’d feel good about eating as a snack.
It took a few tries – good thing I had all those bananas…but I figured it out. And then I added a glaze because glaze = delicious. Duh.
Let me tell you a little about these cookies. I rarely analyze my recipes for nutritional content (even though I get asked to all the time) because I think it’s easy to get hung up on the numbers. Instead I focus on creating tasty recipes made from real food ingredients. But every once and a while, I make something like this and find myself wondering what the nutritional stats have to say.
So I ran it through My Fitness Pal to get a rough estimate:
If you make 12 cookies, each one will have approximately 6 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. If you make them without the glaze, they have 5 grams of sugar and they’re about 180 calories. So you could eat 2 for breakfast and you’d get 12g protein, 8g fiber, 360 calories and 10g sugar. That’s pretty good in my book.
Or, add the glaze for a little extra sugar rush 🙂 Or don’t add the maple syrup to lower the sugar content even further. The possibilities are endless!
They’re packed with chia seeds and hemp hearts for omegas and extra protein. Oh, and they just so happen to be gluten-free.
Ready to make them?
Here’s how:
PrintAlmond Butter Banana Cookies
Gluten-free and sweetened with maple syrup, these cookies are packed with protein and fiber. Perfect of breakfast or a snack. Or add a glaze and eat them for dessert!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (approx 2 medium)
- 3 Tbsp chia seeds
- 3 Tbsp hemp seeds
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup oats
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup*
- Optional glaze: 4 Tbsp powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well combine.
- Scoop onto greased or lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
- Let cool completely and drizzle with glaze before serving if desired.
- Store in the fridge.
Notes
*The amount of sweetener used is up to you. When I make them with the glaze, I leave the 3 tbsp of maple syrup out…If you have a sweet tooth you might want to leave it in.[br]-The glaze may soak into the cookies a bit so i could glaze right before serving if possible. You can glaze them all at once, just know some of the glaze might disappear.[br]- These cookies are moist so I would store them in the fridge.[br]- Make sure your cookie sheet is greased well. They might stick a little but you should be able to get them off with a spatula!
When I make these, I leave out the maple syrup and add the glaze and they’re sweet enough for me. But if you have more of a sweet tooth, I’d leave the maple syrup in.
So there you have it, friends! Hope you enjoy. Remember you could use any kind of nut butter if almond isn’t your fav.
[Tweet “Enjoy these Almond Butter Banana Cookies from @leangrnbeanblog for breakfast OR dessert!”]
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
Get my top 3 tips!
Plus quick, healthy recipe ideas right to your inbox every week!
Yum! These sound fabulous!
Yummy!!! Could totally go for one (or 5 lol) of these right now!
http://www.skinnybelle.com/
Lots of bang for the buck and delicious to boot!
I am staring at overly ripe bananas as I type. These will be made. Oh yes they will!
perfect timing!
What absolutely delicious looking cookies!
I’m always looking for new and healthy food items to make and improve my life style. These are going on the list for sure!
★★★★★
These sound amazing! A banana and nut butter cookie is my dream. I always put them in my muffin recipes but never did a cookie. Trying this for sure!
yay! happy eating!
i have all those ingredients and i’m always looking for more ways to use ripe bananas – sound great!
enjoy!!!
These look fantastic
I love mashed banana in recipes! Whether it be pancakes, these cookies, oatmeal… I just love the texture and the taste it imparts on the food!
me too! hubby hates it! more for me 🙂
I have all those ingredients at home!!! Can’t wait to try them out this evening 🙂
hope they were a hit!
SOOOOO good!! Thanks for posting it!!
They look and sound amazing!
★★★★★
These look amazing. I love all the words you used. I keep forgetting to buy bananas but now I have a reason to!
add them to the list!
Delicious! I could totally go for one (or five!) right now!
Ooh, such a yummy combo! These are perfect “cookies” for my daughter, too. 🙂
woohoo! hope they’re a hit!
I love the little glaze! That’s just puts them over the top 😉
I definitely want to make these! Do you think I could sub hemp seeds for flax seeds? I just don’t have hemp seeds.
Also, how many bananas is 3/4 cup mashed bananas? 2 or 3?
i think flax seeds would be fine! It’s probably about 2 medium bananas
These sound amazing Lindsay, and I love that they are GF. They totally make eating cookies for breakfast socially acceptable 😉
mission accomplished 🙂
Fantastic!! These look like my kind of cookie!! 🙂
I see lots of ‘healthy’ cookies and think: “Great. But I’d never make them” I will actually make these. You hit it spot on- as usual Lindsay!
thanks lady! let me know if you try them!
I’ve been seeing a lot of breakfast cookie recipes around lately, but I still haven’t gotten on board yet. What am I waiting for, right?? These look great!
def worth a try!
These look too good to be true. I’m always looking for healthy baked goods that my son and I can make together. He loves being my little kitchen helper 🙂
love it! i’m hoping squish will enjoy it soon too!
Oh my gosh the ingredients are like a list of my favorite foods – all in one cookie!! I can’t wait till I can make these!
yay! enjoy!
These cookies sound fantastic! I will definitely give them a try. Do you think they will still be OK without the glaze? And can I use honey to sweeten them up?
Petra
http://www.behealthynow.co.uk
definitely ok without the glaze! and you can use honey instead of maple syrup!
All I can say is WOW! I have all the ingredients and will have to give them a try…They look so darn good! 🙂
let me know what you think!
Hi Lindsay! These sound yummy and also quite healthy compared to the average cookie. My problem? I CANNOT not eat bananas long enough to let them ripen and use in recipes. I eat so many bananas each day hahah!
did you know you can ripen them in the oven?!
YUM how did you know I loved almond butter, bananas and hemp seeds haha I am so excited to make these after my fitness competition YUM! xo C
hope you enjoy!
These have All The Good Things! That glaze just makes me want to reach through the screen.
wish i could send you some!
Looks delicious, I love banana and this recipe sounds good with almond and by just looking at it I’m craving. Thank you for this recipe, will try it soon.
★★★★
Have never made them with the glaze, but the cookies themselves are delicious! I am in the military so I can’t use hemp seed but instead substitute with flax seed. These come out perfect every time and are my favorite! Great for grab and go breakfast in the morning.
So glad you like them!!
Awesome! I tried this almond butter banana cookies and my entire family loved it as well. Thanks!
These look amazing! However, my toddler son and 2 friends did not approve. 🙁
Sorry to hear that! You could try my Sweet Potato Banana Bites or Sweet Potato Protein Cookies!