Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Bananas are one of those things that I love to bake with. I never get tired of baking up some comforting banana bread or some big, yummy muffins. I love baking with them and having them. One thing that I've always had trouble finding was a good recipe for banana cookies. I tried my handful of tries and as well as tried several other recipes for banana cookies, but, I've never been to crazy about them. I don't want a cookies that reminds me of eating a banana muffin. I mean, its a cookie, not a muffin.

I recently have seen a lot of people talking about The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook by Elinor Klivans. I've heard that it's a really awesome cookbook to have on hand, so, when I got the money, I decided to go check it out. One of the recipes that appealed to me was the Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They looked really good, and, healthy. After seeing the blogger Erin Cooks post on the cookies, I decided that I need to bake them right away.

What was so great about these cookies, for me, was that they didn't taste like a banana muffin. They tasted like they were really a Banana Cookies, which, was what I was looking for. I did, however, not add the chocolate chips. I wanted to make these so that my father could eat them too (who doesn't really enjoy chocolate... hard to believe, right?), so I didn't had the chocolate chips. Nonetheless, they still came out really well. This is a recipe I'll be keeping on hand.

Recipe

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup rolled oats
2 bananas, ripe


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together, set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until smoothly blended. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until blended.

3. Slowly add the flour mixture with the butter mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Stir in the oatmeal. Use a large spoon to mix in the ripe bananas and mash, mixing just until they are evenly distributed.

4. Drop by tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake until edges are lightly browned and the tops look dry, about 18 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies