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It seems like more kids have food allergies these days than ever before. It breaks my heart every time a mom tells me that her child can’t eat a certain type of food, be it dairy, gluten, nuts, eggs or more. As hard as it can be for kids with allergies to watch their friends enjoying foods that are of limits for them, it can be just as challenging for their concerned parents who are trying to come up with nutritious alternatives that their allergic kids actually want to eat.
Years ago I got turned onto Go Raw Cookies. With only four ingredients and packed with toasty coconut and super sweet dates, they’re free of many of the most common allergy-causing foods. They inspired me to make a (hopefully) allergy-defying cookie of my own which, while not raw, are cooked at a very low temperature making them chewy on the inside and a delectable treat for almost anyone to enjoy. Did I mention that they’re also super easy to make?
Once you taste these Cocodate Cookies I’ll bet you’ll wish that you double or even tripled the recipe because you’ll want to always have a bunch on hand in the cookie jar, your kid’s lunchbox, the car and in big bags in the freezer for everyone to enjoy!
Photo by Maren Caruso
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Cocodate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 banana, chopped
- 5 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275° F.
- Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth.
- Using a small ice cream scoop or 1 tablespoon measure, form the dough into balls on a baking sheet and then press down with the palm of your hand to form cookies.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden and serve.
The cookies are good and simple to make. The absolute best part is my 20-month old little helper can be part of the baking every step of the way! She helped pit, peel, chop, measure, pour and flatten. She sampled ingredients – as she knows a good chef samples her food as she cooks. She nibbled here and there and I didn’t have to worry about the raw eggs, salt or other unpleasant ingredients.
i was out of sesame seeds so i substituted flax seeds, and my little guy who is GFCF loved these!
This is so great! Luckily my daughter doesn’t have food allergies, but these look so good I will make them anyway.
This made me laugh! My son has to do the lick test too! 🙂
I just made these and they are fantastic. I don’t want to share them with my daughter.
Because new things have to pass her lick test first, I put a chocolate chip on top of half of them when I took them out of the oven and then spread it around.
LOVE!! Linking back to this tomorrow 🙂
Lisa, you may have used figs. Dates are a couple of inches long and about 1 inch across. They are soft and very creamy/sticky inside with a honey like sweetness. Medjool and Deglet Noor are common varieties.
Just made this and they are tasty… but seem to be heavy on banana and light on the date flavour. Perhaps I’m using the ‘wrong’ dates? Mine are pitted and about the size of a fresh olive/large grape? Say 3cm long? I put 10 in since 5 seemed soooo small. Even though the cookies are only about 5-10ml each, I still only got 18 out of the recipe. They are really good, but I think somehow I made a mistake… Love weelicious recipes, btw. They are always huge hits in my house. 🙂
You are very diplomatic and incredibly patient! Thanks for all you do!!
Allergies are all around us, everywhere. Whether they are food allergies or environment allergies. As I said in the post above, “They inspired me to make a (hopefully) allergy-defying cookie of my own”. For just about every food I know at least one person who is allergic to it. One of my best friends is allergic to apples! I am so excited about this recipe because it does not contain dairy or gluten or nuts which seem to be the largest issues in the Weelicious community! I hope this recipe can be enjoyed by many, and I hope for those allergic to ingredients in these there are just as many awesome recipes for you to find here! So let’s group hug and move on to enjoying our food and our loved ones!
Hmmm the banana and the dates are what holds everything together. I’ll try to think of some other fruits that would be the same consistency! You could leave them out, but then I think the cookies would be heavy on the date flavor.
Catherine, any suggestions on what I could replace the bananas with? I love this recipe, just need a sub here and not sure what other fruit might work.
You could try leaving them out and replacing with the same amount of sesame seeds. They will be a different flavor, though!
Can I substitute coconut flakes for something else? Or can I leave it out? I don’t like the taste of them but really want to make this recipe.
I love the banana/date/oatmeal cookies and can’t wait to try these ones. I just know we will love them!
April you are SPOT on!! i was skimming comments and just shaking my head. Who ARE these people who feel the need to tell Catherine all about their family allergies and what they can’t eat etc.?!?! It is SO obnoxious! NO ONE cares about YOU! And Irina’s “Not as allergy friendly” as you think comment…well there are the top 8 allergens and since this doesn’t have any of those, they are allergy friendly. And Catherine doesn’t have to make a recipe for you either! Either go somewhere else or come up with one on your own,