Banana Oatmeal Cookies

What would you usually make if you have some ripe bananas waiting to be mash and send into the oven for baking?? Banana bread, cake (steam or bake?), banana crumble or chiffon?? Honestly, I don't really fancy eating the above listed bakes. I just wanted to use up the bananas, that's all. Baking lovers like us can't bear to see lovely ripe bananas being thrown into the bin, right?? :)

I was delighted when I found a banana cookie recipe in Nic's blog. I recalled having seen such recipe before, but couldn't recall where I saw it. I turned to Nic - Baking Bite for the search as she had a huge collection of fancy cookie recipes. There I found it without much effort!

It was a good recipe. I like how the oats make the cookie appear puffy and grainy - qualities of a good-looking cookie! The dough itself was already irresistable. Don't you all agree that cookie dough looks like a tub of ice-cream? :P Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar (I reduced to 90g - 1/2 cup is about 125g)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I reduced to 70g - 1/2 cup about 105g)
1 small/medium banana - about 1/4 cup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats (whole rolled oats or quick cooking)
1 cup chocolate chips (I chopped big-size chocolate droplets into smaller pieces)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and banana, followed by vanilla extract.
4. Gradually on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture.
5. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
6. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake for 11-14 minutes, until set or lightly browned (I baked for 15 minutes to get crispier cookies)
8. Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transfering them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Source: Baking Bites - Banana Oatmeal Cookies


During baking, the kitchen is filled with the aroma of bananas. Just like what Nic described, it tasted like banana bread. It has crisp edges with soft interior that is in between a cake and a cookie on the first day it was baked, probably like rock buns, if you had ever made it before. After a few days, the interior gradually became harder and more chewy. Although I prefer crispy cookies, the crisp and grainy exterior that is not overly sweet would make me want to come back for more. :)