As you know, banana puree makes for an amazing Healthified baking ingredient. Like any fruit or vegetable puree, it provides moisture and volume, which is especially important in gluten-free baking. But with bananas being a fruit high in fructose, it allows you to cut down on added sugar while also incorporating some fiber. Bananas obviously have a certain taste, so in order to make this work, it must meld well with the overall flavor profile of the baked good you are going for (and don’t forget to refer to your banana cheat sheet for desired degree of ripeness!).
I don’t know about you, but every time I eat oatmeal, I either mash in banana, or slice some on top. Therefore, the oatmeal cookie is a time when adding in banana puree works really well. If you are a raisin person, you do do, but the chocolate chips complete the trifecta perfectly in my opinion, especially if you decide to use the lower sugar recipe (both options in this post).
With banana lending natural sweetness, I started with a recipe that calls for one cup of sugar, and I wanted to see if you could reduce that by 50%. While both measurements work, there are subtle differences given the roles for which granulated sugar is responsible. Depending on your personal preferences, pick the one that most aligns!
If you are someone who likes a more traditionally sweet cookie, or if your tastebuds have yet to adapt to Healthified recipes (and they will!) go with the 1 cup of sugar. If you are someone who likes more naturally sweet things (like me), or are currently trying to live a more blood sugar balancing lifestyle, reduce the sugar by 50%. Both options work! I will say – and this is almost always the case any time you bake cookies with coconut oil – chilling the dough is an important step, so don’t skip it! This is what happened when I baked these cookies right away, versus when I chilled the dough:
Also know that the duration in which you chill the dough, and whether you roll the dough or roll and flatten each ball with your fingers will affect the end result. Chilling the dough for 1 hour is sufficient, especially if you are short on time. If you have the forethought to chill it longer, that works too. Either way, I would roll and flatten with your fingers before your bake.
The bottom line
If I was to personally pick a recipe to bake, I would reduce the sugar, chill the dough for 1 to 3 hours, roll and flatten the balls of dough with my fingers before baking for 10 to 12 minutes.
