Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can always tell when my mom is stressed.  She's baking.  I happened to inherit the same gene.  My sister, however, did not.  See where I'm going with this?

A few weeks ago I started flipping through my magazine recipe file looking for the weekly menu plan and came across the following recipe.  I had one banana that was threatening to die on the counter and we were planning a grocery store trip that afternoon, so I could pick up everything else I needed.

The cookies remind me of banana bread...with chocolate chips.  They have a bit of a crunch around the edge, but stay very chewy in the middle.  Cooper loved them - he's not been big on sweet stuff so far, but I think these are perfect since the banana makes up part of the sugar and they aren't overly sweet. 

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking Light

• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium size banana)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer.  Add in the egg and beat well.  Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mix until well blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on to greased cookie sheets.  Bake for about 15-18 minutes, until they begin to brown on the edges.  Cool slightly on the pans and move to cooling racks to cool completely.

It's a doozie

I love reading blogs.  I'm curious by nature and, well, I love to read.  Add in a recipe and I'm in heaven.  Yes, I'm a big dork and I frequently curl up with a glass of wine and a cookbook to read.  It makes my heart happy, ok!  One of my favorite things about going to see Jason's parents is that his mom has a ton of cookbooks.  :-)  Most of them are cookbooks I don't have so it ends up being a double bonus!

Ok, back to this post.  Because I'm a huge dork, I like to peruse cooking blogs.  I'll read one for a few pages, click around to their "likes" and before you know it, voila!  I stumble across a recipe that I have to try.  A few weeks ago I sent Jason and email with one sentence and a link.  "I'm going to make these for your birthday."  Wouldn't you know it, I actually stuck to my words!  Here lately baking hasn't been on my list of things I have time to do, so actually baking these was a pretty big accomplishment for my weekend.

We rarely grab cookies from the cookie stand in the mall, but if we do Jason goes for the Double Doozies.  The cookies with frosting sandwiched in the middle.  So when I came across this recipe I didn't really have to think twice.  These cookies turned out so good.  A bit of a pain to make (for me, while also chasing a toddler) because you mix up cookie dough and frosting, but I'll be making them again.  Especially since I sent half to daycare for Cooper's teachers.  Grrrr...

Mini Chocolate Chip Sandwiches from Sing for your Supper

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I bought the mini ones)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.  In another bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugars until well blended.  Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. (By the way, I read this 4 times to make sure I read a Tablespoon of vanilla and not a teaspoon...I've never used more than a teaspoon in a recipe!!) Mix in the sifted dry ingredients until just blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookies out and roll into small 1-inch sized balls.  Bake for 7-8 minutes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Cool slightly before moving to a wire rack and cooling completely.

For the frosting:

• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 T milk
• 1 t vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 T milk and the vanilla.  Gradually add the additional powdered sugar and milk until the consistency is smooth and creamy, without being runny.  I think I ended up using all of the milk, but only about 3 cups of powdered sugar.  Stir in food coloring if you'd like at this point.

To assemble the cookie, I used my Wilton back and size 12 tip and piped the frosting on to one cookie, topping with another and rolling the edges in sprinkles.  They are best kept refrigerated and set out about 1/2 an hour before serving to soften.  If you're that patient.  We're not.

I also noticed that I probably over baked mine, since they ended up flatter than Amy's.  But I also refrigerated the dough after the first batch and once the dough was a little colder the cookies seemed to hold up a little better.  Since it is starting to get warm again in Texas, the house tends to heat up pretty quickly with an oven going and that means the dough gets softer.