Iron is one of the most important nutrients for growing kids, and it’s also one many little ones fall short on.
Focusing on iron at mealtimes is great, but let’s be honest: not every child eats their meals! That’s why we love turning an everyday snack into an iron-rich one. Something delicious that actually contributes to your child’s (or your own!) daily iron needs.
For these cookies, we focused on the heavy hitters: pumpkin seeds, tahini and rolled oats, plus a little dark chocolate, which is a surprisingly good source of iron too. These are all plant-based (non-haem) sources of iron.
To put it in context, a 5-year-old needs about 10 mg of iron a day. Each cookie (if making 10 per batch) has around 2.3 mg, which is over 20% of their daily requirement in one snack!
Tip: pair them with a vitamin C-rich food like strawberries or orange slices to help the body absorb the iron.
Now let’s get into it…
Ingredients
3/4 cups rolled oats
¾ cup oat flour (rolled oats blended to be a fine flour)
½ cup pumpkin seeds
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 large egg
¼ cup hulled tahini
2 tbsp maple syrup
¼ cup semi-sweet choc chips
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
In a bowl, mash the bananas well, then whisk in the egg, tahini and maple syrup until smooth.
Add the pumpkin seeds and ¾ cup of oats to a blender or food processor and blitz into a fine flour.
Add the dry blended ingredients, baking soda, the remaining oats, a pinch of salt and stir until evenly combined. Fold through the choc chips, saving a few to press on top.
Let the dough rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes (if you can wait) to firm up.
Scoop heaped tablespoons of dough onto the tray to make 10 cookies. Flatten each one to about 1 cm thick with damp fingers or the back of a spoon, as they won’t spread while baking. Press the reserved choc chips on top.
Alternatively, you can make these smaller, just know that one large cookie is 2mg of iron, if you make them small thats 1mg, which is still great, and might leave them coming back for more, but thats OK!!
Bake for about 14 minutes, until golden on the edges and set in the middle.
Leave the cookies on the tray for 10 minutes to firm up, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Store in the fridge for 5 days or store in the freezer to last a few months!
xx