Looking for a heathy snack that is quick and easy? These banana cookies are perfect for little kids, big kids and everyone in between. Easy to make, simple ingredients and sure to please. These soft cookies are the perfect snack when your little bears need an afternoon pick me up!
Do you let your kids eat Bear Paws? They’re more or less a soft cookie that you find in the boxed cookie/snack/cereal bar aisle of the grocery store.
I don’t think they are that healthy but my boys love them. They’re also easy to grab and eat when you need something quick.
I can’t stand them. They do not appeal to me at all and I’ve often wondered if there was some way I could replicate the recipe to have a healthier less expensive option. And guess what, I stumbled on a recipe, quite by accident.
I was on Pinterest, updating some blog pins (lol) while my son was doing his swimming lessons. And there in my home feed were these banana cookies. I had half a dozen brown bananas that needed to be used up, more than I needed for banana muffins, so I saved the pin to use later.
The results were more than satisfying!
This recipe is the banana version of Bear Paws, the company makes many different varieties and I am not attempting all of them. Banana seems to be a favourite in my household though. And this cookie is very similar to that of the packaged soft baked banana cookies you purchase at the store.
Healthy Snacks
Finding a balance of healthy snacks, time efficient snacks and cost effective snacks can feel like an impossibility. I’ll be honest, at this point in my motherhood journey I’m going for time effective snacks although cost effective is a close second. My boys like to be busy and snack time turns into this whole frustrating event so I often opt for easy things that keep my sanity intact.
So if these cookies will satisfy my little bears then I will keep them on my rotation of baked goods.
They are relatively easy to make. They do not come together like a traditional cookie, I found them to be more of a thick muffin consistency, which made them into an incredibly soft baked cookie. The flavour and texture was different from banana muffins though.
As per usual, I loosely based my recipe on “Soft and Chewy Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies” but made significant changes. So mine looks nothing like the original post. I cut back on oil and sugar and could even cut back further on the sugar. I also used whole wheat flour as opposed to all-purpose.
Because they were more of a muffin batter they spread quite a bit on the baking sheet so don’t place them too close together. They also did not brown significantly around the edges. I baked them for about 11 minutes until they were still soft but not gooey.
They tasted amazing straight out of the oven and kept on the counter for 2-3 days. I freeze them in containers or ziplock baggies so I can grab a few cookies to thaw for my boys at snack time.
If you’re looking for a healthier snack option, try these banana cookies!
Banana Cookies (Bear Paw Copycat)
Makes 20 cookies
Prep time – 10 minutes
Bake time – 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana (mashed)
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup flour (whole wheat or AP)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Directions
- Mash banana. Add oil, sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and chocolate chips (if using). Mix until combined.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Put dough into the fridge for 5 minutes (this helps reduce how much it spreads on the pan).
- Scoop dough by tablespoon full (I use these ice cream scoopers for uniform sizes) onto prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. These cookies will spread so don’t crowd them on the pan.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until done. They will still be soft but not gooey.
- Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Cookies keep for 2-3 days on the counter or freeze up to 3 months.
Change it up with these chocolate banana cookies!
Chocolate Banana Cookies
To make these into a chocolate version, omit cinnamon, reduce flour to one cup and add 1/3 cup cocoa powder. Directions remain the same!
For more banana recipes, try my favourite Banana Muffins or Funky Monkey Cookies!
These cookies offer a great opportunity to talk to your children about how God makes all things new (brown bananas = yummy cookies)! Get the full recipe, scriptures and short devotional you can do with your kids while baking, including 11 of my other favourite recipes HERE.
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