MERRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY ANIMALS! Gang, The Irish Balance is, as you know, a HUGE Christmas gal – it is literally my FAVOURITE time of year – the most wonderful indeed! I love EVERYTHING about it – the tree, the lights, the warmth at home, family and friends coming together, the FOOD (duh!), the gift of giving – I could go on for days!

So, I wanted to celebrate Christmas 2017 by sharing a special recipe with you, one you can make and leave out for Santa himself! They are OF COURSE flavoured with my favourite seasonal spices – cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg – and have a cheeky little dose of cacao nibs in there for some chocolate-y goodness. Shall we get baking? Yes please!

And before we get into the recipe – I want to wish each and every single one of you beautiful people a very VERY Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful holiday and remember to keep that #christmasbalance going and just live in the moment!

Recipe (Makes 10 Cookies)

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp whole chia seeds
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp nut butter of choice
• 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (e.g. honey, maple syrup, agave, date syrup!)
• 1 whole ripe banana, mashed
• 80-100ml milk of choice (I used Koko Dairy Free Coconut Milk)
• 150g instant oats, blended into flour (I use Flahavan’s)
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs or chocolate chips

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C (fan oven).
2. Line a baking tray with tinfoil and grease it with a little olive oil or melted coconut oil – this stops your cookies sticking when you bake them!
3. Take a large mixing bowl, and add the dry ingredients to it – oat flour, spices, baking powder, chia seeds and cacao nibs. Mix well using a big spoon.
4. Create a little well in the centre of your mix, and add the mashed banana, milk, nut butter, honey/syrup/sweetener and melted coconut oil.
5. Stir everything up until you get a mixture that is 70% wet, 30% dry – hopefully that makes sense! You want a thick batter that you can spoon out pretty easily.
6. Spoon out a chunk of the batter (approx. a big tablespoon size) and place it onto your baking tray. Use the back of the spoon or your fingers to flatten it a little.
7. Repeat by ten!
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove and allow to cool for about 5!

Enjoy guys, and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL – and to all a good COOKIE! Tag me if you try these out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook and use the hashtag #christmasbalance !

Ciara 🙂