As I’ve previously mentioned, my lady suffers from several serious food allergies. No wheat, corn, dairy, apple, shell fish or sunflower oil shall pass through her pearly gates.

alicia cookies small blog.jpgGiven that it was Alicia’s birthday yesterday (Happy BDay, AC!) I wanted to bake her something that would make her feel special. After combing through dozens of allergy-friendly websites and blogs, I finally found a cookie recipe that read like the perfect combination of texture and sweetness.

I’m actually blogging while I’m baking so Alicia hasn’t tried the cookies, but I have and they’re actually really tasty. The oatmeal and banana provide amazing structure, while the cranberry and almonds provide both crunch and a zing of sweet. I’ll amend my post once we finish dinner (pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes and mushroom ragu) and Alicia, Pat and Emily sample the goodies. UPDATE: Everyone loved the cookies… 32 were baked in the batch and within 2 hours all 32 were devoured. Nice.

Pure Fruit Cookies

Ingredients
  1. (3) medium sized bananas
  2. (1/3) Cup canola oil
  3. (1) tsp vanilla
  4. (1/8) tsp salt
  5. (1 1/2) Cups rolled oats
  6. (1/2) Cup uncooked oat bran or creamy-style hot cereal
  7. (1/2) Cup chopped almonds (or walnuts)
  8. (1 1/2) Cups dried cranberries (or raisins, dates, apricots, etc.)

Baking Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 large cookie sheets. Mash bananas in large bowl til smooth. Stir in oil, vanilla and salt. Add oats, oat bran, mixed fruits and nuts. Stir well to combine. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing about one inch apart. Flatten slightly with back of spoon.

Bake in preheated oven til bottom and edges of cookies are lightly browned, approximately 20 minutes. Cool.

This recipe was developed by Chet Day and was featured on Food You Can Eat.