These soft and chewy cookies are naturally sweetened with Fairtrade Certified bananas and dates, and made with Fairtrade Certified chocolate chips!
In celebration of World Fair Trade Day, I’ve teamed up with Fairtrade Canada for a special recipe showcasing fairtrade ingredients. I’ve focused on using pantry items and simple ingredients that should be easy to find!
These soft and chewy cookies are naturally sweetened with bananas and dates. They’re oil-free and can be made gluten-free too. You don’t need anything fancy to put together the quick homemade trail mix - it’s just sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, and chocolate chips. This lighter take on chocolate chip oatmeal cookies will make your home smell incredible and are sure to be a new favourite in your baking rotation! I’ve included an option to use a dehydrator if you have one, or they can be baked in the oven - both versions turn out really nicely!
My recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies is vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free friendly. I’ve focused on using pantry items and simple ingredients that should be easy to find!
FAIRTRADE FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE
Fairtrade Canada works to benefit small-scale farmers and workers, who are amongst the most marginalized groups globally. With better prices, decent working conditions, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers, Fairtrade supports the development of thriving farmer and worker communities. These individuals are empowered through trade - rather than aid - to maintain their livelihoods and reach their potential.
The Fairtrade symbol indicates that the product and/or ingredients have been produced by small-scale farmer organizations or plantations that meet Fairtrade social, economic, and environmental standards. These standards include protection of workers’ rights and the environment, payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects.
As a certification scheme, Fairtrade Standards help small farmer and worker organizations who are marginalized from trade in a variety of ways. Beyond the standards and certification, the Fairtrade system also provides direct and indirect support to producers and their organizations to deepen social and environmental sustainability.
Fairtrade Canada is part of a global community dedicated to a vision of a better world. World Fair Trade Day reminds us that we are one world, our humanity deeply interconnected through trade!
CHOOSING FAIRTRADE CHOCOLATE MATTERS
Cocoa farmers around the world often struggle to make a living, despite their position as the source of a highly prized commodity. Widespread poverty, deforestation, gender inequality, child labour, and forced labour are persistent problems in the cocoa sector. Cocoa has grown to be one of the most prominent Fairtrade products since it was first certified in 1994. Fairtrade Canada works to advocate on behalf of these vulnerable farmers within the confectionary sector in order to address a host of challenges that threaten the long-term sustainability of cocoa and the people behind it. To learn more about how Fairtrade is helping to change the cocoa business for the better click here.
For today’s recipe, I’m using Fairtrade Certified 71% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips from Camino, a Canadian brand of fair trade and organic food products. Their vegan-friendly chocolate chips are made from rich cocoa and golden cane sugar, without any additives or emulsifiers. The packing is recyclable too!
FAIRTRADE BANANAS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The production of bananas is labour-intensive and demanding. Climate change and plant diseases threaten yields, while large multinationals wield considerable influence in a sector that requires significant infrastructure to harvest and transport the quick-ripening fruits. Retailers often offer deep discounts on bananas, sometimes selling below cost to attract customers. Together, these factors put banana producers in a bind. As consumers, we can vote with our dollar by choosing Fairtrade Certified bananas. To learn more about how Fairtrade Canada is contributing to improving the lives of the workers and farmers in the banana trade click here.
For this recipe, I’ve used Equifruit Fairtrade Certifed and Certified Organic bananas. With sustainability in mind, Equifruit uses 100% compostable labels on their single banana stickers at Longo’s locations (an Ontario-based grocery store chain). They have eliminated all unnecessary stickers on their banded fruit in an effort to minimize waste. This diverts nearly 12 million stickers from landfills over the course of 12 months!
Visit Fairtrade Canada’s website to learn more and browse their Interactive Database of brands & registered companies.
These Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies are simple to make with ingredients that are easy to find! The cookies on the left are oven-baked, and the cookies on the right are from a batch that was made in the dehydrator. Instructions for both baking and dehydrating have been included in the recipe below.
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies
These soft and chewy cookies are naturally sweetened with Fairtrade Certified bananas and dates, and made with Fairtrade Certified chocolate chips!
Yield: about 27 cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
2 cups oat flour* - make you own by blending any type of oats in your blender until you have a fine powder.
1 cup rolled oats*
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon - Fairtrade Certified (I always use True Ceylon Cinnamon)
1 tsp baking soda (omit if you are using a dehydrator)
Wet Ingredients
2 flax eggs - 2 tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 tbsp water
1 + 1/3 cup mashed *ripe* bananas - Fairtrade Certified (about 3 bananas)
1 cup dried dates (about 12 Medjool dates or 18 Deglet dates)
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
Trail Mix
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips - Fairtrade Certified
1/2 cup hemp hearts
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
(use organic ingredients)
Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven 375°F and line 2 cookie sheets with unbleached parchment paper. If you are using a dehydrator, prepare your dehydrator trays with parchment or reusable sheets.
2. Make your flax egg: in a small bowl combine 2 tbsp ground flax and 6 tbsp water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
3. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients. Omit the baking soda if you are dehydrating the cookies and not baking in an oven.
4. Add bananas and dates into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to use a tamper or scrape down the sides with a spatula to ensure that the ingredients are well combined. Note: if the dates are not soft and you aren’t using a high-speed blender, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes, or until they are softened.
5. Add in the vanilla and flax egg to the mixture in your blender or food processor and pulse to combine.
6. Add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and combine. Fold in the trail mix ingredients.
7. Scoop cookie dough onto a baking sheet (or dehydrator sheet) about 2 tbsp per cookie, placed about 1 inch apart. I used this 2-Tablespoon mechanical cookie scoop by Cake Boss. Use the back of a measuring cup or spoon to press down on the tops of each cookie to flatten.
8. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown. The cookies will harden as they cool.
If you are using a dehydrator, set the temperature to 110°F - 115°F and dehydrate for 17-18 hours, flipping each cookie at the half-way mark. The cookies will be ready when they are dry on both sides.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
*A Note on making this Gluten-Free: this recipe can easily be made gluten-free. When selecting oats to use in this recipe, choose oats that are certified as gluten-free.
For a sweet treat, I made ice cream sandwiches using the the dehydrated version of my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Trail Mix Cookies and Ben & Jerry’s new dairy-free Netflix & Chilll’d ice cream. This flavour is made with Fairtrade Certified ingredients. It’s a peanut butter ice cream, with sweet and salty pretzel swirls, and fudge brownies. It pairs perfectly with these cookies!
A special thank you to Fairtrade Canada for collaborating with me for this recipe. Don't forget to check out Fairtrade Canada on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and their Website.
I'd love to see if you make this recipe - tag me when you share on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so that I can see your creations!
Much love,
Avra
This post was sponsored by Fairtrade Canada. The Bittersweet Chocolate Chips used in this recipe were kindly gifted for review. I only share products that I personally use and that are made with the highest integrity. The Amazon links provided are affiliate links, which means that if you visit Amazon through these links and purchase product, I’ll get a commission. Don’t worry – the price doesn't increase if you use my link - you'll receive a discount while helping to support the free content that I share.
To work with Avra and Love Wild Live Free on collaborations, reviews, and sponsored posts please get in touch on the Contact page!