Super soft and extra chewy cookies based off three easy ingredients and ready in just 12 minutes! These healthy 3 ingredient banana bread cookies have no butter, oil, flour or sugar but you’d never tell! They are also naturally gluten free, vegan, paleo and dairy free!
Please, pick yourself off the floor.
This recipe does NOT contain my lovechild- Coconut flour.
I know, I know. A paleo recipe on here (or any, rather!) and not containing any coconut flour? Trust me, my bags (yes, bags) of coconut flour are giving me the stink eye. However, I’m giving them a break for a day or two and sharing a recipe using a different meal/flour today- Almond meal!
Reader Ann emailed a while back saying her family really enjoyed these 3 ingredient flourless banana bread cookies. By always having those 3 ingredients in her kitchen at all times (banana, oats and smooth nut butter), they were a consistent snack for them. Ann, however, has been following a paleo diet and wanted to know if we could sub the oats for coconut flour.
Seeing as I go through coconut flour like water in my apartment, I was game to give it a go. I played around with measurements and upped the nut butter and banana in the hopes of being left with a soft and chewy paleo friendly banana bread cookie.
So after four tries, these were the outcomes.
Trial 1- Hockey pucks. The coconut flour was so absorbent, it even absorbed the cooking spray on the cookie sheet.
Trial 2- Hockey pucks….even with the decreased amount of coconut flour.
Trial 3- Pretty much this single serve banana bread, but firmer.
Trial 4- Something which tasted good, but I needed to drink a gallon of water after it.
Safe to say, I had enough of coconut flour with this endeavor.
I was not going to give up, though- I’ve worked with almond meal before and knew it could be a solid replacement (give or take) with oats in a recipe. At first, I thought I might need some eggs to bind, but I was able to work out a pretty delicious soft and chewy banana bread like cookie, without the need for oats or hockey pucks or my lovechild. Saying that- If you are after crispy, crunchy or firm cookies, I’m sorry but these are just not that (well, if 3 ingredients are your intentions). If you’re good with soft and chewy, these healthy 3 ingredient flourless Paleo banana bread cookies have YOUR name on them!
These banana bread cookies need just three ingredients and none of them are butter, flour, oil, eggs or sugar! They are soft, extra chewy and taste like a delicious, nutty banana bread in cookie form! For those following a grain free or paleo lifestyle, you’ve probably got all three ingredients in your kitchen right now- Almond meal, nut butter (I used almond) and overripe bananas! These cookies aren’t just for the paleo folk- They are also vegan, gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free!
HACK! You can replace it with almond flour, however, I really do find the almond meal (a more dense, course texture) to really compliment the banana and almond butter REALLY well! If texture is what you are after, go the meal.
Almond meal.
Make these healthy three ingredient paleo banana bread cookies and quash those banana bread cravings with three easy steps.
I mean ingredients.
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Healthy 3 Ingredient Paleo Banana Bread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup almond meal
- 2 large overripe bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup smooth nut butter of choice
- 1/4 cup dairy free chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet/tray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine your overripe bananas, almond meal and nut butter of choice. Mix very well until fully combined. Stir through optional chocolate chips.
- Using a scoop or even your hands, form into small balls and transfer to the cookie sheet. Press each cookie down firmly and bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on top- Do not overcook.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
Healthy Flourless Sticky Cinnamon Bun Cookies
Healthy 4 Ingredient Applesauce Cookies
What is your number 1 used ingredient for any recipe?
Do you often use/have you ever used almond meal before?
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I find that almond flour is more versatile that coconut flour and I can “hide” it better in recipes than coconut flour. We must have switched though because I just baked with coconut flour yesterday 🙂 If I had to choose one to bake with for the rest of my life, I’d go almond!
Haha, you can keep almond flour suppliers happy and I’ll take one for team coconut 😀
Almond meal I use all the time. It’s so easy to substitute for most regular flours!
OH nice! you have many delicious recipes, I’ll have to try some using my almond flour!
I use oats all the time! I don’t always have almond meal on hand, but I do love the flavor it imparts.
It has such a great flavor, doesn’t it 🙂
I see almond meal at Trader Joe’s all time, but never bought it since I didn’t know what I’d do with it. I guess I’d make these cookies! And I love that you think the chocolate chips are optional. They are not.
Hahahaha NEVER!
Almond meal is my boyfriend, just dont tell my husband. We always joke because I always tell him to text me when he’s on his way home from work [cause Im a worried wife] and he always jokes its so that I can chase my boyfriend out of the house before he gets home. Little does he know, my boyfriend just gets shoved into the pantry 😉
You are killing me with all these cookies babe. Though the fact that these are freezer safe = AMAZING!
LOL!!!! that is the best…You guys are an epic pair!
Seriously, freezer friendly = BOSS.
When I did bake, I’d ALWAYS use coconut flour too! Since I haven’t been baking in a while, it’s been giving me the stink eye too. Same thing with my cinnamon! LOL! But I still love them!
Always! Those two buggers will have our backs! 🙂
Omigod! I’m going to make these today! Thank you Arman 🙂
Please do- Thanks so much, Kiran!
I commend you on your mastery of coconut flour. I only use it in recipes that have already been tested by other people. I would have no idea how to use it if I was making something up myself. I went through a crazy GF flour phase where I was buying every kind imaginable along with the starches and making crazy combinations bc I love science so much and it was like a puzzle. Then I got tired of it and Neil was like OMG why do we have 321567487 bags of weird ass flour in here???
LOL! Moving apartments = The biggest lesson learnt from that! I had SO many unopened bags of flour!
Oh now see…this recipe sounded so good and I was hoping it would contain the beloved coconut flour so I could try it….unfortunately we have an almond allergy in the house 🙁
Oh no! I’m sorry, Kim- You can try the original 3 ingredient banana bread cookies using oats 🙂
Check on snapchat in the next few days I’m sooooo making these! I have all the ingredients for once (since I never have coconut flour haha) — I always have frozen bananas I don’t know what to do with.
Please do, but PLEASE get coconut flour- You will die! (of happiness)
I’ve never used almond meal, but I HAVE used nut butter and banana, so this ain’t too far off from what I consume on a daily (hourly) basis.
I don’t know why I always read your blog at 10pm. I’m so hungry for these right now. Also, soft and chewy is really the only way to go for a cookie in my world.
Nut butter is pretty much almond meal. I mean, if we glare at it, it becomes just that.
Ohhhh yes. SOFT AND CHEWY > crumbly.
STOP with all these goodies!!! 🙂
ahaha, thanks Jody!
I like almond flour in pancakes; really good! These cookies look good too, and quick to mix together. I think a pinch of cinnamon will enhance the flavor.
YES! Definitely add some cinnamon- It goes SO well with the banana!
Please educate an uneducated person, what’s the difference between almond flour and almond meal?
P.S. You introduced me to coconut flour and it’s one of my most used ingredients ever since. And cottage cheese 😉
That is amazing. At least now when I come to Germany I’ll need not to bring staples 😉
Almond meal is less finely milled- So kind of like more dense almond ‘flour’ which is really fine!
Well, dang. You got me on the coconut flour train, but now it looks like I need to change my itinerary and board the ALMOND MEAL TRAIN.
NOOOOO. IT WAS ONE TIME.