Damn Good Cookies

Do you ever feel like the bananas in your house are against you? I do. Even though we love bananas and we eat a lot of bananas, we always have some in the freezer, waiting to find new life as banana bread, cake, or cookies. The other day, I was tired of my same old recipes and thought I'd look for something new. And, I had three very ripe bananas staring at me from my counter top. Find something worthy, they said. Something so rich and so fine, we'll be happy to be a part of it.

And boy, did I.

These are called Banana Oatmeal Cookies (you'll notice the link says moist and chewy, but due to an aversion to one of those words by several of my faithful readers, I decided to cut those two words out of the title). But me? I'm going to call them Damn Good Cookies, because they are. Even without chocolate or nuts, these are, by far, one of my favorite cookies. In fact, these are so good (maybe it's the butter?) that I will, for the meantime, allow a bit more sugar into my life. 

True fact: after I made and tasted these cookies, I couldn't stop talking about them. Aaron wandered into the kitchen at one point with a pained look on his face. He wasn't sure what my problem was as I waxed poetic about cookies. I even tried to figure out who I could call and talk about these cookies with, but the timing was all wrong. So if you make these cookies and like them as much as I do (don't worry I won't despise you if you don't), feel free to call me.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added more than this)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp cornstarch

3 cups old fashioned oats (I only had 2 1/4 cups of oatmeal, so I put in 3/4 cup of Rice Krispies as filler. Kid you not!)

1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until everything is well combined.

2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and cornstarch and mix again until combined.

3. Stir in oats (and Rice Krispies, if necessary).

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (or not). Flatten dough with a spoon, into thick discs. The cookies will spread when baked.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just start to become golden.

7. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy! (If you can't manage to snag one of these right out of the oven, take a bit of time to pop one in the microwave for a few seconds. The warmth is worth it!)