February 11, 2014

Moist and Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies

posted by Lindsay
111 Comments

These Banana Oatmeal Cookies are hands down the best banana flavored cookie I’ve ever had. Not only are they moist and chewy for days, they are unmistakably banana-y.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Banana can be one of those flavors that can get lost when you bake with it. It can be really subtle flavor. It always bums me out when that happens, because I LOVE the taste of banana. And so does the hubs.

So when good flavored banana treats come along, we go a little crazy for them.

These cookies make the list of banana things to go crazy for. Without a doubt.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

And they’re so moist, they almost melt in your mouth. Plus, with both banana and oats in them, they’re basically healthy, right? 😉 And perfect for breakfast!

Making them is just as easy as eating them.

You’ve got the usual suspects – butter, brown sugar, white sugar, an egg, vanilla and mashed bananas. You start by mixing all those lovely ingredients together.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I must warn you. The smell of that mixture – with the banana – is intoxicating. The hubs was in the kitchen making the dough with me (we made a deal that included him baking with me) and we both had to work hard to not put our faces, or a straw, straight into it.

Then you add all the dry ingredients (which means you only use one bowl – yay!) and mix it all together!

To bake them, spoon out about a tablespoon of dough and make a thick disc, rather than a ball. They spread a bit when baking, so don’t put them too close together. Bake them for about 10-12 minutes for a nice, moist cookie. So yummy!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

One other thing I love about this recipe is where it came from.

My grandmother (my dad’s mom) passed away in 2008. After I started baking a lot a few years ago, my uncle gave me her cookbook that he’d had and didn’t use. I’ve had it on my list to make a number of her desserts ever since.

My dad and I made her gaufrettes (a French cookie – my great grandparents were French) a year or so ago. It was a tradition for my grandmother to make them every Christmas! She gave everyone a big tin of them, which was quite a feat with 6 sons.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I now know just how much of a feat it was! My goodness. She made them with a traditional gaufrette iron that goes over an open flame. My dad and I had them on the stove. They cook very quickly and you have to be precise. Too little time and they kind of disintegrated into the iron. Too long and they burned into the iron and we had to wash it out.

My dad was pouring the batter and removing the cookies, I was working the iron, the hubs was timing things. It took quite a few tries to get it right, but they were so good! I’ve tried to make them again on my own and it never works. I’d love to share the recipe, but the dang irons are so hard to find. And expensive. At some point, I’d like to just make a cookie with the same gaufrette flavor.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

For now though, I’m sharing these cookies. I don’t think I ever had them when she made them, but they are from her book.

It’s such a fun recipe book to look through, too. There are so many handwritten pages, clippings and newspaper recipes that were taped into the book. I love the way they used to write recipes in the paper – they had the person who submitted it’s name and cute little stories. It’s so fun to read through them! What a different time in the world!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Anyways, I don’t really know where this recipe came from. The paper looks like it was on a flier from their square dancing group or something (they were big into square dancing). It’s definitely from West Virginia, where they lived.

Either way, I’m so glad to finally share a recipe from her book with you! I made a few changes to make them thicker and puffier and they are delicious. There will be more to come from her recipe book, but for now enjoy the banana. 🙂

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Moist and Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: 34-36 cookies

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup salted butter, softened (I use Challenge Butter)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cornstarch
3 cups old fashioned oats

Directions:

1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well combined.
2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and cornstarch and mix until combined.
3. Stir in oats.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Spoon tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten dough a little bit, into thick discs. They will spread a little when baked.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just start to golden.
7. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

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Recipes, Sweets and Treats, Cookies
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