Preparation

This recipe will make approximately 24 cookies.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.)

Place the spelt, or whole wheat flour, and the quick rolled oats (oatmeal) in a bowl and mix together.

Add the sunflower seeds, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves and mix well. Add 2 cups of the raisins and mix well to ensure that the raisins are not sticking together, and that they are thoroughly coated with the flour mixture.

Place the peeled bananas and the remaining cup of raisins in the container of a high speed blender. Cover and run at high speed until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended and smooth.

Add the banana-raisin mixture to the flour mixture and mix thoroughly with a stiff spatula or spoon. After adding all the liquid mixture, if the cookie dough is too stiff you may add a little apple juice or water. A thinner dough will make a flatter cookie. A stiff dough will make irregular, thick cookies like the ones shown in the photo. (To test for dough stiffness, we stick a soup spoon upright into the dough. If the dough is stiff enough, the spoon will remain upright.)

Sprinkle a baking sheet with a light coating of oatmeal, place the cookie dough in 24 equal sized "mounds." (We usually start with a well rounded tablespoon full of cookie dough for each cookie, and add any leftover dough to the cookie mounds on the baking sheet.) Smooth and shape each cookie with a spoon or spatula, as desired.

Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. Various ovens bake differently, so we suggest that you begin checking the cookies after 15-20 minutes of baking time. The cookies should be firm, but still soft enough to be a little "springy." Be careful not to over-bake.

When the banana coconut raisin oatmeal spice cookies are baked, remove from the oven, cool, and enjoy.

Store any leftover cookies in the refrigerator in a covered container or storage bag.