Banana Oatmeal Cookies

This was such a great baking project we enjoyed in our kitchen recently! If you have a handful of overripe bananas this is an amazing fun recipe to use them up in. You'll have the best little tender banana bread-esque cookie bites stuffed with bits of chocolate. You just can't beat that!

We often over or under-buy bananas - I'm sure you've seen that meme:

So when the overripe bananas start piling up - pull this one out and give it a try! The cookies keep well on the counter for a few days, and they're just as good out of the refrigerator to keep them fresh a little longer (if they last that long).

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 4-dozen cookies (using 1 1/2 TBS sized cookie scoop)

Ingredients

1 cup butter softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 medium ripe bananas mashed

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream the softened butter with the white and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on high, until lightened in color and creamy.
2. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated and mixture is fluffy.
3. Add in the vanilla, and the mashed ripe bananas. Whip for about a minute until very well incorporated and fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine. With mixer on low speed, incorporate dry ingredients into the wet (batter will be fairly "wet").
5. Stir the chocolate chips in with a spatula, by hand.
6. Chill dough for at least an hour. 
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, prepare two large baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats.
8. Use a 1 1/2 TBS sized cookie scoop to place 1 dozen cookies per baking sheet (chill the dough between batches).
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown along the top and bottom.
10. Cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes before carefully moving to a cooling rack to complete cooling. The texture of these cookies is fairly soft, so handle gently especially when warm!

Recipe from Buns In My Oven