BANANA PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES

With having enough bananas frozen in the freezer, I decided to make these banana peanut butter oatmeal cookies using ripe bananas that were not going to be eaten by myself or the DH. I prefer firmer versus soft bananas and once soft, they get frozen to use in smoothies. I adapted this recipe from Mark Bittman's cookbook 'How to Bake Everything'. The cookies use rolled oats and no flour. Since the bananas are sweet, minimal sugar is added. For fat, I used coconut oil. This is the oil that reminds me of Crisco, it is not liquid. It does get softer in the pantry during the summer months as compared to winter when the temperatures are colder. I used chopped almonds for the 1/2 cup of nuts in the ingredient list. I made a few modifications which I included in the ingredients. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats. I added another 1/4 cup or so as I thought the batter was not thick enough. This can be due to using agave instead of dry sugar. The original recipe also calls for toasting the roll oat flakes in the oven for 15 minutes before making the cookies and I deleted that step. 

The cookies were delicious and got the stamp of approval. You could have these for breakfast as an option.

Cookies cooling on the cookie sheet. 

Sampling the cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

4 tbsp butter or coconut oil, melted 
3 large ripe bananas
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3 tbsp PB2 (powdered peanut butter)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3 tbsp sugar, dry or agave or maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon 

If you don't use PD2, you can use 1/2 cup peanut butter instead of the butter or coconut oil. The peanut butter will need to be softened first in the microwave.

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the melted fat and vanilla and mix. Add the egg and combine well. If you are using the PB2 powder add it to this wet mixture. If you are using agave or maple syrup also add it to the wet mixture and combine.  

In a separate medium size bowl, mix the oats, sugar (if using), nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.   

Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until combined.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it. Drop the batter by large tablespoons onto the cookie sheets with about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling. Store in a container in the fridge. Makes between 1.5 to 2 dozen cookies. 

Adapted from Mark Bittman 'How to Bake Everything'.