Oat Nanner Clusters

I found a great blog called Sprouted Kitchen. If you want to see some of the most beautiful food photography I’ve come across on the web, you should check out her site. If you want to see even more breathtaking wedding photography, done by the guy who takes all the breathtaking food photos on Sprouted Kitchen, click here: Hugh Forte Photography. He is amazing. I sent him a comment and told him “you make me want to get married all over again so you could come take our pictures”.

Sara has lots of great, healthy recipes on her blog. I’ve already got of list of the things I want to make. I started off with something sweet, huh, imagine that, me making something sweet. Wonders will never cease!

Saras recipe was called Oat’Nana Pucks. I changed it to Oat & Nanner Clusters, cause well honestly; my creation came out looking more like a cluster than a puck. No matter the shape, they were no less than delicious.



Oat & Nanner Clusters
From Sprouted Kitchen – This recipe contains no eggs, sugar (almost – see coconut note) or butter, but still tastes great!
Printable recipe
3 well ripened bananas
2 tablespoons good vanilla extract
¼ cup coconut oil (olive oil will work fine)
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup wheat bran
2/3 cup finely chopped almonds
½ cup unsweetened coconut (I never have unsweetened on hand, I used sweetened)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup semisweet chips or carob chips

Oven to 350. Mush the bananas with a fork. Mix the wet ingredients together (bananas, vanilla and oil). In another bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and gently mix. Fold in the chips. The dough will be loose. Just really squish it in your hands to ball it up.

On a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat, make mini balls, then give them a gentle smush to flatten them out. They really don’t change space while baking so spacing 1” in between each is fine.

Bake for about 14 minutes or until firm. Do not undercook or they will crumble.

Hoard (that was Sara’s comment, lol)

I substituted wheat germ for the wheat bran, cause that’s what I had on hand. I also used sweetened coconut because again, there is no unsweetened coconut to be found in this house. I’m sure my version came out a tad bit sweeter than Saras, but that’s ok, cause that’s what taking a recipe and tweaking it and making it your own is all about.

I loved these. They were almost like having a chewy bite of granola all rolled up into a sweet little package. I took these little clusters into work and they were happily gobbled up in a flash. My co-workers love me.