Banana Breakfast Bickies (Cookies)

Banana and Peanut Butter on toast all wrapped into a nuggety little cookie for a grab and go Breakfast.

I’m not a morning person. I always imagined it would be something that would come to me with maturity. As each year passes, I promise myself this year will be it, much like a resolution of sorts yet as I do mature it alludes me.

Though I’m lucky enough to live in an area in which I wake daily to the sound of birdsong with a view through treetops the bedding remains firmly clutched around me.

When I was still in the conventional workforce waking daily to an early alarm, climbing from the comfort of rest seemed easier. I still would not have called myself a morning person, but I do remember it being simpler. Do I look in the rear-view mirror with rose coloured glasses perhaps? I drove to work, back then, through congested morning traffic, a not especially enticing thing to face daily. Lucky enough to always have a parking spot in my workplaces and not confronted with traffic of the magnitude of today, driving to work was never a big deal for me. Driving in fact bought me more time in bed. I could leave home at 7.45 am for my city job and arrive in time to make coffee and see what I was confronted with for the day before actually starting. Easing into the day if you will, a habit I still prefer, some quiet time with a coffee and breaky before launching myself into whatever the day brings.

When my kids were still in school I adhered to a similar routine. Rising soon after my husband left for work to unfurl into the day I’d inhale an all-important coffee and breakfast at some degree of leisure before the calls to kids to get up and get ready. To make this easier I’d lean into breakfasts I could pre-prepare like a granola or overnight Bircher style muesli, which remain favourites and always good coffee. But my proclivity to hitting the snooze button has remained and so too has my quest for easy morning hunger fixes.

Next week I’m working on a book shoot in the kitchen team. A last-minute booking, it’s one I’m quite excited about. I love this kind of work. The pace energy and creativity when a team gathers to create something that ultimately you get to hold in your hands is both invigorating and exciting. I can’t share anything about the project but will do closer to release but let’s just say the food will be delicious. We start early on the other side of the city from me. I’m always excited to get to work on these days in which each one is different presenting new challenges and satisfactions and so much delicious food. But I still need to get there, and Melbourne’s traffic is very different to what it used to be like. That trip, not much further than the one of the past, will take a lot longer. I’m still gonna need that coffee, possibly in a commuter cup while I drive, and I’m still going to need something to eat. Which got me to thinking what would fit the bill? I could eat these muesli bars, but I might get bored as the week goes on. So what else could I come up with to munch on in traffic while I sip my morning brew?

Two bananas past their prime stared at me from the fruit bowl. I could make banana bread sure, but there must be something else and let’s face it a slice of cake isn’t the easiest thing to nibble on in traffic. I wondered if you could put banana into some kind of biscuit (cookie). Using some wholemeal flour, almond meal, seeds and honey with that banana, some peanut butter and currants I stirred and baked. Resulting in a convenient little nugget meeting somewhere in the middle of the intersection of cookie, brownie and rustic cake, these little morsels are like eating banana and peanut butter on toast bringing a smug smile to your face while your fellow commuters grimace at each snarl in the long lines of cars moving like ants towards the city.

These can be frozen and baked individually as required. They’d also make a delicious addition to lunch boxes in schools in which peanut butter is allowed. And yes, I’m sorry but they really do improve on standing before baking.

Banana Breaky Bickies

180 gm wholemeal plain flour

40 gm white plain flour

60 gm ground almond

½ tsp bicarb soda

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

¼ tsp salt flakes

¼ c currants

2 Tb sunflower or pumpkin seeds

30 gm raw sugar (the granulated variety, similar size to white sugar grains)

30 gm brown sugar

2 Tb honey

2 tsp vanilla paste or extract

2 Tb peanut butter, smooth or crunchy just use what you have

120 ml olive oil

1 egg yolk

1 large ripe banana mashed

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients and currants. In smaller bowl combine all remaining/wet ingredients except banana and whisk well until thoroughly combine then stir through mashed banana. Fold wet ingredients into dry and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least one hour but the longer the better.

When ready to bake preheat oven to 180c and line a large baking sheet/tray. Using an old fashioned ice cream scoop portion out onto the tray. They’ll make roughly 18 little balls. You can also roll into balls slightly smaller than golf balls and flatten slightly. Place tray in the oven for 18-20 minutes turn the tray half way through cooking to ensure they’re browned evenly.

Cool on wire rack, store in an airtight container.

---

Finds and Forays

In the spirit of fast easy food I bought Donna Hay’s new book Too Easy. I have to admit I didn’t love her last two books so wasn’t planning on adding this one to the collection but after a flick through in the book shop here we are. This new book feels like a return to her older books in which she presents recipes under cleverly titled chapters such as ‘faster than take away,’ ‘honey I bought an air fryer,’ and ‘short cuts on a classic.’ The recipe as always are packed with flavour, look bright and inviting and are reliably simple. I’ve already cooked several dishes from its pages and all have been en pointe. It’s a definite winner.

While I love cooking, even those of us who work in the kitchen all day sometimes can’t face making dinner. So with next week in mind I’ve been making some food for the freezer. So far I’ve stashed away my favourite lamb curry and I’m going to make this lovely looking chicken casserole to add to the selection over the weekend. Something simple and classic after a day of tasting and preparing rich wonderful dishes for shooting will be just the ticket.

Finally I’m quite possibly the last person on earth to watch this new sensation but if you’ve not seen it yet I can’t recommend it more. Two super likable and relatable characters absolute draw you in making you cheer them on through their somewhat complicated burgeoning relationship.

Hubby and I rarely enjoy the same show but both loved this one and binged it over a couple of days. If you need something lite hearted and uplifting, and let’s face it we all need that at the moment, this is definitely the one for you.

With a busy week coming I’ll see you in two weeks.

Stay happy friends,

S x