Cookbook: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day, I looked at my food shelf and noticed an extremely ripe banana I had completely forgotten about. Suddenly, I had the random urge to bake and searched for a recipe where I could use my ripe banana (ripe bananas are the best for baking). First, I was inspired by this pin of delicious Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins. However, I realized my apartment doesn't have a muffin pan...so I decided to make cookies instead! This recipe is my own little creation, inspired by this muffin recipe as well as this cookie recipe. The cookies are thick and almost scone-like...so don't expect "normal" cookies to come out at the end :)

P.S. Clearly I have a thing for bananas, oatmeal, and chocolate chips...because my last (and only other) cookbook post was for banana oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cup quick-cooking oats (I used McCann's Irish Oatmeal)

1 very ripe banana, cut in 1-inch pieces and mashed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

4 heaping tablespoons of Trader Joe's "Vanana" yogurt

(you can substitute for plain vanilla too!)

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

(you can add less or more based on how sweet you want the cookies to be)

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and set out a large cookie sheet covered in baking spray.

Mix all ingredients together, until the batter is well combined. Normally recipes tell you to mix certain things first, but I honestly just threw everything in the bowl and they turned out fine :)

Drop 2-3 inch wide spoonfuls of the batter on to the cookie sheets. Make sure the spoonfuls are about 2 centimeters thick.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven and then bake for about 13-16 minutes, depending on the desired crunchiness of the cookies. You'll know they are ready when the top of the cookies are firm, and nothing shows up on a fork if you pierce them.

Enjoy! These cookies are best when they are warm!