Baby Puffs are one of the most viewed recipes here at BuonaPappa and to be sincere I’m not surprised 🙂
Puffs are a perfect baby snack:
- light: it doesn’t compromise meals.
- not messy: you don’t have to mop the floor if they fall.
- portable: perfect on-the-go snack idea.
- entertaining: my kids spent more than half of the time playing with puffs and eating some of them here and there.
- educational: yes! playing with puffs can be considered a manipulative activity and I even used them later on to learn how to count 🙂
- easy to prepare at home: just consider puffs as a thick smoothie drops baked in the oven!
I’ve been playing with homemade baby puffs recipes for a while (veggies, no veggies, eggs, no eggs, different kind of cereal to thicken..) and today I would like to share with you my summer version of baby puffs: Cherry Banana.
I’m in love with cherries and they are totally in season now…another good reason to add them to the recipe.
To prepare this video I read all the comments received for the previous baby puffs recipes to see if I could add any tip or suggestion that might be useful like how to store, how to bake them perfectly..and any other tip I could give from my personal experience. Let me know in the comments if I missed something, I will be happy to reply here 🙂
Let’s start preheating the oven to 350F and lining a baking sheet with some parchment paper. You can also use a silicone mat if you have it. For this recipe I ended up baking 3 trays of baby puffs. If you have more than one tray available you might want to prepare that too.
Place the rolled old fashioned oats in the blender and pulse into oat flour texture.
Add all the other ingredients: baking powder, pitted cherries (I used more or less 25), banana (ripe to give extra sweetness), egg, coconut oil and milk.
I used coconut milk so that the puffs are also dairy free but you can use any milk you like.
Blend everything for 1/2 minutes in order to obtain a smooth thick cream.
Transfer the mix in a plastic bag, close and cut a tiny tip from the bottom corner. I would suggest not to overfill the bag or it will be difficult to pipe the drops. Fill the bag only halfway, it will be easier.
Pipe the mix in small dots on the parchment paper. One next to the other leaving some space. Once a whole tray will be full of dots you can bake it in the oven to 350F for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 275F and bake for additional 15 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the puffs cool down completely 5 minutes. With your hands detach them from the parchment paper, it should be very easy. Let your little one enjoy them!!
How to store baby puffs?
I store them on the countertop in a cup or container not airtight. I experienced that in the air tight container the puffs get soggy in few days as it gets moist inside. A fabric bag is another good storage idea. You will need something where the air can go through.
The baby puffs can last 2/3 weeks on the countertop.
How big the drops should be?
For a proper baking I suggest very small drops, like your pinky nail 🙂 I tried bigger drops but than the baking might not come perfectly as the center can not dry enough and be a little chewy.
Can I use other fruit? I don’t have cherries.
Sure, you can substitute cherries with a fruit that more or less has the same water quantity and compact pulp. Plums, blueberries, blackberries are a great substitution. If you opt for more watery fruit like peaches, pears, melon you might need to either reduce the milk quantity or increase the oats one.
My puffs came out chewy..
It can happen if the drops are too big and the baking time is not enough to dry them out completely. To fix it you can bake them again at a very low temperature (225F) for 30/40 min. to dehydrate the center without burning the sides. Every oven is different so you might need to adjust the time and check frequently.
Would you like to check other homemade baby puffs recipes?
- Mango Spinach Baby Puffs
- Spinach Pear Oat Baby Puffs
- Banana Plums Zucchini Baby Puffs
- Green Baby Puffs with kale and apple
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats (aka old fashioned)
- 1 large egg
- 1 medium banana, ripen
- 1 cup cherries, pitted (more or less 25)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp baking powder
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Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 1/2 sheet baking tray with parchemnt paper.
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Place oats in a blender and blend for 1 minute to obtain a flour texture.
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Add in the blender all the remaining ingredients: bakign powder, cherries, banana, egg, coconut oil, milk. Blend into a thick smooth cream.
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Fill half of a plastic bag with the mix, close it and cut a tiny tip from the bottom corner.
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Pipe the mix in small dots on the parchment paper. Fill the whole paper with dots.
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Bake to 350F for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 275F and keep bakign for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool down 5 minutes and with your fingers remove the puffs from the paper. They will come out easily. You should be able to bake 3 trays of puffs with the suggested quantities.
6 Comments
Did you make this recipe? Share the love, tag @buonapappa on Instagram and hashtag it #buonapappa I would love to see your creations!
komal chag
July 27, 2020 at 4:02 pmHi, can i make this without eggs? if not, what’s the substitute?
Barbara Lamperti
October 19, 2020 at 8:52 pmHi! If you want you can substitute the egg with either 1 Tbsp chia seeds or 1 Tbsp flax seeds meal. They will act as binding agent. Still, the final puffs might be a bit more dense than the egg version. Ciao! b
Claudine
February 1, 2021 at 6:42 pmHi thanks for the recipe it looks great! I was thinking about trying it, however i have a question regarding storage. Have you ever tried storing them in portions and freezing them? Maybe i can make larger batches and store them in the freezer?
Thanks a lot
Barbara Lamperti
May 24, 2021 at 11:24 pmHi Claudine, I never tried freezing the puffs. They usually never lasted so long to need to freeze them. Still, it’s a good question to investigate!
I would definitely store them separated to prevent them from sticking with each other. A parchment paper foil should do the trick. To thaw them the important thing will be to remove any moist from the freezer. Puffs should be dry and crispy, that’s how they can melt in the mouth.
To do so I would try either the oven (250 for 15 min) or also the airfryer for 4-5 min. You just gave me something exciting to test! Thank you, B
Christine
June 23, 2021 at 11:47 pmThese puff recipes are awesome! Could you make and share a recipe similar to Beechnut’s blueberry banana green bean melties?
Barbara Lamperti
December 28, 2021 at 1:33 amHi! Such a fascinating idea, thanks, I will add it to the “to do” list!