Yes, we have brown bananas.

Everyone at one point or another in their life had to deal with the horrible dilemma of brown bananas.  Don’t deny it; I know it has happened to you, too!  Today I dealt with that problem head on.

I have been staring at these two bananas for a couple of days now, watching them brown up on me.  I knew I had another overripe banana in my freezer (great tip:  if you have overripe bananas that you aren’t going to use right away, DO NOT throw them out.  Peel them and put in freezer bags for a later use. ).  I could always make banana bread with them, but that seemed so basic.  I wanted to think of something a little different.

After going through my recipes, I found one that I felt would work well with banana, my basic oatmeal cookie recipe.  This is a wonderful base recipe that lends itself to play.  I have incorporated so many different tastes and textures in this recipe in the past, but have never used bananas.  While routing around my cabinets, I also found some maple chips that I also incorporated into the recipe.

So here it is!  My newest creation.

.

Banana Maple Oatmeal Cookies (makes about 4 dozen)

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups oats (not quick cooking)

1 cup maple chips (optional); or any other chip or dried fruit you feel like throwing in!

Heat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy.

Add eggs, banana, and vanilla; beat well, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Add flour mixture and slowly mix into wet mixture until just combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Using a wooden spoon, mix in oats and maple chips.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.