RECIPE 4 KIDS - Two ingredient cookies!

This is another great recipe to talk about processed flour and gluten with kids (see the Banana Pancakes recipe for a little more on this). It is also a great recipe to get children interested in what is IN the food they eat. I like to buy some packaged cookies from the store when making these cookies and go through the ingredients list with children. Compare how many ingredients there are in the pre-made cookies (and how many are 'fake' i.e. not natural) to your delicious, all natural two ingredient cookies!

The three biggest lessons I try to have children take away from this are:

1. Always check ingredients lists. // 2. As a general rule, less ingredients are better. // 3. Don't trust any ingredients you don't understand and get to know some of the most common evil ones (e.g. high-fructose corn syrup, palm oil, common chemical names etc.)

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Important points to cover/conversations to have with kids before starting/during creating:

• Hygiene and safety - a constant conversation to be had every time!

• The evils of gluten!

• Evil ingredients! - Additives, fake-flavours, preservatives, sweeteners, oils, chemicals - this is where your bought cookies come in!

• Customisation and balance - Give your kids some choices of (healthy) 'flavours' to add to make these cookies their own. Talk about combinations that might work well together and the old saying of 'less is more' - do they really want to put EVERYTHING into one cookie?! Maybe let them try and find out for themselves it doesn't taste that great. So long as the additions are healthy, who cares?!

Shopping list (makes 4-8 cookies depending on size):

• 2 ripe bananas (depending on size - I'm talking 'medium')

• 1 cup of whole oats (or slightly rolled, but not a fine powder)

Optional fillings / flavours:

• Salt

• Honey

• Vanilla extract

• Cocoa powder

• Chocolate chips

• Cinnamon

• Raisins

• Diced apple

• Blueberries

• Crushed walnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180c/350f

2. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl

3. Add a cup of oats and mix together well

4. That's it! You can stop here now, or begin you customisation (below).

5. When you are done with customisation, put cookie shaped 'blobs' onto a baking tray lined with baking sheet and bake the cookies in the oven for around 12-17mins, or until they have firmed up.

Customisation:

Really, anything goes here, but here are a few classic ideas!...

• Adding a pinch of salt is a nice balance to the sweetness of the banana and/or sweet-tooths may like to add a tablespoon of honey.

• A few drops of vanilla extract adds a nice subtle, yet sophisticated flavour to the cookies.

• You can make the whole cookie chocolate flavoured with a tablespoon of cocoa-powder.

• Add a handful of chocolate chips.

• Add a handful of raisins or diced apple and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon.

• Add a handful of crushed walnuts and a handful of blueberries.