Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 313 kcal | 89 kcal |
| Protein | 8 g | 2.3 g |
| Fat | 3.1 g | 0.9 g |
| saturated | 0.6 g | 0.2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 60.3 g | 17.1 g |
| sugars | 29.8 g | 8.4 g |
| Fibre | 6.7 g | 1.9 g |
| Sodium | 6 mg | 2 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 1.1 kg ripe banana (about 9 medium), mashed
- 12 cups oats
- 2 cups maple syrup
- 2 cups raisins
- 1 1/2 tablespoons powdered vanilla
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Use bananas that are well spotted, almost black. Nothing in a raw method develops sweetness, so whatever sugar the fruit already has is all the cookie will ever taste of.
- Blend the banana, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon into the oats and stop the moment it comes together. Over-blending turns the oats to flour and the cookie loses the chew that makes it worth eating.
- Pulse the raisins in for a second or two only. Chopped to paste they disappear; left in pieces they are the sweet spots you find on the third bite.
- Let the batter stand while you line the trays. Oats keep drinking banana for several minutes, and batter scooped straight away spreads flat.
- Drop tablespoons onto lined sheets and flatten each one into an even round with damp fingers. A peaked cookie keeps a wet core no matter how long the machine runs.
- Dry at 46 °C for 16 hours, turning them onto mesh once the tops are firm enough to lift. The underside sits on plastic and stays pale and damp until it is exposed.
- They are right when the outside is dry to the touch and the centre still yields to a press, like a soft biscuit rather than a cracker. Taken further they go hard and dusty, and there is no way back from that.
- Cool them fully on a rack before they go anywhere. Stacked warm they steam each other and the whole batch turns gummy overnight.
- These still hold real moisture, so keep them in the fridge and eat them within five days, or freeze them. A cupboard tin is not a safe home for a cookie made of fresh banana.
