Dawson community recipes: Banana Oat Breakfast Balls
Banana Oat Breakfast Balls
- 4 large, very ripe bananas
- 4 cups (400 gms) large flake oats (old-fashioned oats), gluten-free if necessary
- ½ cup (50 gms) unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup (50 gms) ground hazelnuts or almonds or more coconut – optional
- ½ cup (100 gms) mini chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or lightly grease it.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl with a potato masher or a fork.
Add all the other ingredients. and stir well to combine.
Scoop up about 1½ tablespoons dough at time and squeeze it together to make a rough ball. (you could use an ice cream  scoop). Squeezing and gently tossing the ball from one had to the other several times helps compact it into a neater ball.
Place the balls about ½ inch apart on the baking sheet.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until when you lift up one of the balls, you can see that the bottom is golden brown. Cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, or in the freezer for several months.
Makes about 40 breakfast balls 1½ inches in diameter (less if you omit the ground nuts).
*If you make them this size, each Breakfast Ball has 1.6 tablespoons oats, so 3 balls will give you almost 5 tablespoons oats – the same amount in a serving of oatmeal porridge (and more fun and convenient to eat!)
