These vegan and gluten free Peanut Butter Banana Amaranth Cookies are a perfect choice to satisfy sweet tooth in a nutritious way. These cookies are high in fiber and protein along with delicious flavors. If you have never tried amaranth then this is your chance to fall in love with this super food grain.
I feel cookies are the easiest to bake when it comes to desserts. I usually dread baking and literally have to make up my mind for about 4 days. However, when I decide to bake something cookies come to my mind every time. Then, I try to whip up guilt free and nutritious cookies so that I don’t have to worry about indulgence. Also, I always intend to load my cookies with proteins so that I enjoy them as my pre workout snack as well.
I am not a huge of store bought protein powder so I try to include natural protein in my recipes. This way I try to avoid the processed protein powder. It’s not like that I don’t eat processed food. Sometimes, it becomes impossible to avoid them especially in our current hectic lifestyle. However, I try to avoid it as much as possible. Therefore, I just try to find something that is naturally and in their original form.
Healthful ingredients for Peanut Butter Banana Amaranth Cookies
Amaranth flour
Baking powder
Salt
Bananas
Peanut butter
Maple syrup
Vanilla extract
With only 7 ingredients I assure you that these cookies are super easy to bake and are undoubtedly healthy.
Health benefits of amaranth
It is naturally gluten free.
It is a complete protein grain. Infact amaranth has more protein than any other grains.
This grain is high in calcium and lowers the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Amaranth is easy to digest and is completely plant based.
I am sure you will love these cookies because they are soft, chewy, has prominent taste of banana and peanut butter. Even though Amaranth flour has its own strong taste but the combination of all the ingredients make these cookies absolutely desirable.
Also, if you get a chance to bake these cookies please write a comment below the post and rate this recipe. Further, if you have tried other recipes with amaranth flour do share it with us. I would love to hear your ideas.
Peanut Butter Banana Amaranth Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup amaranth flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 large ripe bananas (mashed)
- 1/4 cup fresh ground peanut butter
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit and prepare a cookie with a greased parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl combine amaranth flour, baking powder and salt. Then, whisk it well until no lumps are left. Then, set it aside.
- In another bowl combine mashed banana, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla and whisk it until all the ingredients are well blended.
- Now, fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.
- Thereafter, with the help of a cookie scoop place the round shaped cookies on the prepared cookie sheet. Do not flatten the cookies and let it take its own shape.
- Afterwards, place the cookie sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake it for 30 minutes or until it turns a golden - light brown color and the top of the cookie is dry.
- Turn off the oven and take out the cookies. Let it cool down completely and enjoy them with a glass of milk/coffee.
Notes
- Refrigerate the leftover cookies in an air tight for 4-5 days.
- Amaranth flour has a mild bitter taste of its own. So when combined in this recipe these cookies have a strong amaranth flavor once they cool down. It takes a while to get used to the taste of amaranth.
- Make sure that the bananas in this recipe are ripe but not over ripe.
- The peanut butter that I used in this recipe is unsalted and unsweetened.
- These cookies would be slightly grainy in texture after they are baked. That is because of the texture of amaranth flour. However, as they cool down these cookies would be crispier also.
Nutrition
Nikk says
would it he good to add chocolate chips?
Gunjan says
Yes! About 1/4 cup of chocolate chips should be fine in this recipe.
Nikk says
why did the center of ym cookies not “cook” / get dry, is that normal? it was at 355 for 30 minutes and the outside got brown but center did not i followed exact recipe
Gunjan says
Hi! I hope the oven was set to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Also, the cookies need to cool down completely. The center would be soft and the edges would dry up quicker than the center in this recipe. Hope this helps.
Cathy says
Tastes really good and I love the texture. I only have 2 1/2 ripe bananas and less than 1 tbsp maple syrup on hand so I used those but it turned out really yummy! My amaranth flour was really old too. Does amaranth expire? Is it safe to eat even so? Thanks for this simple recipe.
Gunjan says
Thank you Cathy for trying these cookies and appreciating them as well. I am so happy that you like these so much. Yes, amaranth flour does expire and if its too old it acquire a a mild bitter taste. you should be able to find the expiry on its package very easily.
Nadia says
I used 2tbsp of agave vanilla syrup and 1 tbsp of maple syrup because that’s what I had on hand and they are good! Even my 2 year-old likes them! …which is a bonus because they aren’t too sweet and any sugars are natural sugars! My cookies came out smaller so the nutritional information would change, but is your listed nutritional information PER cookie based on 10 cookie yield?
Gunjan says
So glad you all liked these cookies. Yes, I have provided the nutritional value of per cookie.
Mist says
I just tried this recipe after searching for healthy cookie recipes. My cookies turned out very soft and pancake-like…I was so disappointed. What can I do to make it more crunchy and cookie-like?
Gunjan says
These cookies are originally slightly soft. However, they are supposed to cooled down completely to get a crispier bite but it won’t be as crispy as crackers. These are made with certain ingredients which makes them different from the regular cookies.
Cecilia says
I currently do not have amaranth flour in my pantry, but I do have oat flour. Do you think these might turn out ok with oat flour?
Gunjan says
Yes, absolutely. In fact with oat flour these cookies would have a little more smooth taste if you aren’t into amaranth at all. Hope you enjoy them 🙂
Chrispicakes says
These are great! I was scared by the smell of amaranth flour that it would be too strong but was totally fine after baking.
I don’t use maple syrup so I blended 10 noir dates with the bananas in a blender. I also added chunks of peanuts in addition to the peanut butter for texture (but it didn’t need it).
And lastly, if possible I always add cocoa powder—this time 1/4 of a cup.
I usually use oat flour for everything but I got tired of the rubbery texture.
I’m so glad I tried this recipe!!! Thank you.
Prashanthi says
Is it possible to substitute maple syrup for coconut sugar?
Gunjan says
Yes, absolutely!
cakespy says
These cookies look wonderful. The texture looks like just what I crave, and I think peanut butter and banana is one of the best combos in the WORLD! I love the flavor of grains too.
Renee Gardner says
I love the combination of peanut butter and banana. I’ve never heard of amaranth flour – do you think the flour would be difficult to find here in the US?
Gunjan says
No at all Renee. You may find it in any store in the health aisle or natural product aisle. Its easily available online as well.
Molly Kumar says
These cookies look so good and would make a great post-workout snack. I love amaranth n would try this soon.
Savita says
I’m super fan of amranth. So I see myself trying these for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Gunjan says
Thank you Savita. Hope you enjoy them.
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine says
What a great combination! Sounds super healthy — great snack!
Gunjan says
Indeed it is!
Claire | Sprinkles and Sprouts says
Off to look up amaranth and see if it is easy to buy here in Australia.
My Dad has to follow a gluten free diet so these would be perfect for him.
Thanks for sharing.
Gunjan says
You can try to find it online. I am sure amazon will deliver to Australia. Hope you enjoy these cookies.