My First Review 2014 |FOOD| Banana & Oat Healthy Cookies

At the beginning of the week I realised that I seriously had to start organising myself better, and allocate time to write my blog. I looked into what other bloggers do, and their best advise is to write ideas down in a notebook as and when they come to you.

So. This was the perfect opportunity to use my Christmas present from my Aunt. My first thought when I saw this was 'what the hell..?' as, lets face it, it's not the prettiest of notebooks, but it has grown on me so much. It's got that 'Harry Potter' look to it, its made of 100% leather and has my initial embossed onto it (clearly my Aunt went to a lot of trouble). Next thing on the agenda was organising my time, and what better way to do this, than with my new Filofax that I got from my best friend Claire (take note of Claire as she will no doubt be mentioned a billion times in my blogs!)

Please ignore the cats...I'm not a crazy cat lady!  x

I was thinking long and hard about what I was going to do my first review on and in all honesty I couldn't really make up my mind. I have a tonne of products, places & food that I think would be worth reviewing, so to come up with just one for now is a nightmare! I've decided on the ever so popular Banana & Oat cookies, which a lot of YouTubers rave about.

Banana & Oat Healthy, Quick and Easy Cookies

What you will need:

200g Oats

3 Ripe Bananas

Large mixing bowl

Your hands :)

Baking Tray

Grease proof paper

Method:

It really is so simple, you just pour your oats into the bowl and add your bananas. You then just use your fingers to mush the banana into the oats until it forms a thick doughy mixture. It is quite crucial that you use ripe bananas, as they are not only sweeter but will bind the mixture together with ease. The reason why they get sweeter is down to the starch in them, which breaks down into sugar. Hence why you get that caramelised taste whilst it's being cooked.

Stage 1 - Preparation & Method

Stage 2 - Baking & Tasting

First Thoughts!

Smell:

The first sensation will almost always be smell. You can really smell the Banana (Duhh!) However it's a caramelised scent, so very sweet, delicious and ever so tempting. Which is exactly what you want with a 'cookie', especially one that is actually good for you for a change.

Texture:

Well the texture is quite 'flapjack' like. I would go as far as to say that these should be called Banana Flapjacks; they are soft, moist and oaty. Not crunchy and chewy as you would find with most cookies. However I ate these straight out of the oven, and didn't really give them much time to cool. Perhaps if I had made them thinner and let them cool, they would have been a much crunchier texture? I'll try that next time. 

You may also find that sometimes you come across a dry section where the banana hasn't quite spread evenly amongst the mix and other times you come across a bit of gooey banana. Some of you might relate to 'Millies Cookie-Pops' where you got really excited when you came across a smartie?.. Or perhaps that was that just me.

I swear these have gotten smaller....

Taste:

This is where your senses suddenly come running back and realise they've been fooled into thinking this is an actual cookie. Yes - the obvious flavour that comes through is banana, and unfortunately that is the only thing you can taste. So, if you hate the taste of bananas, you're screwed! 

Serving Suggestion: Add some natural yoghurt and fresh fruit e.g. blueberries/ strawberries / mango (whatever you want) I just had a glass of milk as they were a little too dry on their own. 

So...LOVE or LOATHE?

It's got to be love, I would 100% do these again. They are so versatile, you can have them for breakfast, as a snack or a dessert. You can add ingredients to them like chocolate chips, nuts or some type of dried fruit? The fact that they are so easy to make is another bonus - including preparation time and cooking you're looking at 15 minutes tops. 

If you found my review useful in any way, let me know! It would be great to know that there are people out there that actually ready this. Any criticism you give will be taken onboard so i can hopefully mould myself into a proper blogger! 

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