Looking for something else to bake during quarantine? Put your skills to use with these healthy banana treats for your favorite equine pal. SmartPaker Emily shares her recipe from the SmartPak blog for healthy banana horse treats. This post originally appeared on our sister site, Horse Nation!
During the quarantine, I’ve been spending a lot of time watching The Great British Baking Show, which in turn has inspired me to get in the kitchen and bake! It seems others are also feeling the inspiration as my social feeds have been filled with pictures of delicious banana bread. This is a favorite baking go-to for me (using my grandma’s recipe) and I thought it would be fun to create a healthy banana-based recipe that my horse could also enjoy. I hope you enjoy making these treats for your horse as much as I did, and that he or she enjoys eating them!
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
¾ cups oat flour
2 very ripe bananas
½ cup no sugar added apple sauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Ground cinnamon
Salt
3 teaspoons chia seeds (optional)
3 teaspoons hemp seed (optional
Everything is ready to go. Photo by SmartPak.
Instructions:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients (oats, oat flour, a few dashes of ground cinnamon, a few dashes of salt) together. Also, add your optional ingredients. I added both chia seeds and hemp seeds. Flaxseed, shredded carrots or diced apple would also be great additions!
Dry ingredients ready to mix. Photo by SmartPak.
Step 3: In a separate bowl mash 2 bananas with a fork, add the apple sauce and mix them together. I would suggest using bananas much riper than mine! Also, if you have a helper (such as my dog Anna), they may require a slice of banana.
Ripe bananas. Photo by SmartPak.
Step 4: Add banana apple sauce mixture to your dry ingredients and mix.
Wet ingredients ready to mix. Photo by SmartPak.
Step 5: Add coconut oil to the mixture. My coconut oil was solid, so I warmed it in the microwave until it was liquid.
Step 6: These treats work great in a mini muffin pan or also as a traditional cookie. If using a mini muffin pan, spray the pan with coconut oil before adding the treat mixture. If using a baking tray, line first with parchment paper. Add a scoop of treat mixture and press down with a fork. These cookies will not spread so it is fine to place them close together.
Spread your pan with a thin, even layer for best results. Photo by SmartPak.
Looking good, just one missing piece. Photo by SmartPak.
Step 7: Add an optional thin slice of banana to the tops of the treat mixture and press down.
These look ready to bake! Photo by SmartPak.
Step 8: Bake for 30-40 minutes until the treats turn a golden-brown color.
The finished products! Photo by SmartPak.
Step 9: Share with your horse. (Keeper, my 4-year old OTTB, tested and approved!)
4 yo OTTB (Keeper) tested and approved! Photo by SmartPak.
Ready to bake? Download and print the recipe here.
Go Jumping…and baking!
Editor’s Note: If you don’t feel like baking (or cleaning up), go for these SmartCookies in Guilt-Free Banana Bread flavor instead. My mare is a huge fan, and she’s the pickiest eater in the world, hands down.
Header photo by SmartPak.