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I have been making these chocolate banana two-bite brownies for my toddler (and definitely me too) and they are a huge hit. The only issue with them is that I can never make enough. These are a much healthier alternative to most snacks for your toddler and they are so delicious.
These brownie bites are gluten and refined sugar free. The sweetness comes from the bananas and the dates. While they have bananas in them, the primary taste is a dark rich chocolate brownie.
When using bananas in baking, it is almost always better to use over-ripe bananas. They are softer, sweeter, and easier to work with. If my bananas start to over-ripen, I freeze them for when I need them in recipes such as this. I freeze them in their skins and then defrost before use.
While this recipe is delicious, I love it because of how simple it is to make. The ingredients get put into a blender and mixed up. The only other dish is the mini-muffin baking pan.
Two-Bite Brownies are the Perfect Sized Snack
A two bite brownie is a perfect sized snack for on-the-go no-mess snacking. These snacks are guilty free as they are so healthy. Eating nutritious and balanced snacks will keep you feeling energized for longer and you won’t get as hungry so quickly. These snacks contain complex carbohydrates so they take longer for your body to process. This results in less of a sugar rush and the resulting crash.
Ingredients
While these brownie bites have no flour, no refined sugar, and can be dairy free, they are still incredibly delicious and nutritious.
Almonds
Almonds are loaded with nutrients with healthy amounts of fibre, unsaturated fats, protein, and magnesium. The almonds in this blender brownie recipe can not be noticed as they are ground to a flour in the blender. The almonds serve to bind the ingredients together and make this snack very healthy.
Oats
The oats in this recipe are ground up in the blender and serve as a binder for the rest of the ingredients. Oats are naturally nutritious and full of important vitamins such as manganese, iron, copper, vitamin B1 and vitamin B5. Oats are high in antioxidants and may help lower blood pressure.
Bananas
Bananas are a fantastic natural sweetener when used in cooking and baking. The bananas in this recipe provide moisture and sweetness to deliver a delicious chocolate-banana brownie bite flavour. Aside from providing a natural sweetness bananas are full of antioxidants which can improve heart health.
Dates
Dates are nutritious, high in fibre and antioxidants. The dates in this recipe also serve as a natural sweetener to balance out the flavours from the bananas. I have gradually increased the quantity of the dates when refining this recipe and have no found the “sweet spot”.
Toddler’s Love These Two-Bite Chocolate-Banana Bites
My two-year old devours these healthy snacks. They were originally designed for her, but my whole family will eat them as well. After these snacks have cooled, I put them into a freezer bag and freeze them. When ready to consume, just defrost in the microwave or leave at room temperature for a morning.
I also use these snacks in lunches for work. In that case, I just put them into a container while still frozen and they will be defrosted by morning snack time or lunch.
Easy to Make
Additionally, these healthy chocolate-banana two-bite brownies are very easy to make. All you need is a high powered blender in order to blend the ingredients together. I use a Ninja food processor for this recipe but I have also successfully made it using the blender attachment fort he Ninja. It is important to grind the ingredients down small, so a high powered blender would make this much easier.
There are limited dishes as all the ingredients go into the blender or food processor.
Healthy Chocolate Banana Blender Two-Bite Brownies (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 3 bananas over-ripe
- 12 dates pitted, dried variety is fine
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 cup oats old-fashioned, gluten free if required
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 1 tbsp milk any kind is fine: dairy, almond, oat etc.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350℉. Grease a mini-muffin tin with spray on oil.
- Place the dates in a bowl of warm water for approximately 5 minutes.
- In a food processer or blender, add oats and almonds. Blend on high for 2 minutes, until the ingredients are blended finely with no chunks.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the blender, including the dates from step 1. Blend on high for another 2 minutes.
- Add the mixture to the mini-muffin tin. The cups should be about 3/4 filled. They won't rise during baking, so you can fill it up more than usual.
- Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick from the center comes out clean.
- Place tin on a cooling rack. Once cooled, remove the two-bite brownies and enjoy!
