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.
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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!
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.
