Cookies Won

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love cookies. I know, without a doubt in my mind, that I could eat cookies every day for the rest of my life. I should not, but I could. When I was working from home a few days ago I planned to use my extra time (time not spent driving to and from work in rush hour) to go to the gym and go to a Bikram yoga class. That was my plan.  I ended up weighing my options, and the day didn't exactly turn out as planned.

Running and weights at the gym, or baking cookies? Baking cookies won. 

That's okay, I'm still going to Bikram later.

Sweating it out in Bikram, or eating a handful of these fresh-from-the-oven cookies? Eating cookies won.

Whoops.

I have a table in my kitchen that's entirely devoted to cookie supplies. White sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar. Semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, mini milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips. Walnuts, almonds, cashews, and pistachios - whole, crushed, sliced. I've also got many different colors and sizes of sprinkles and other various decorations. Though really convenient, this also gets me into trouble, because its all too easy to whip up a batch of cookies if I don't need to go to the store to get anything. And that's when I skip the gym and Bikram and instead opt for sweats and sweets.

These cookies were inspired by a Cooking Light recipe, but I made some changes and healthified them a bit more.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine banana, brown sugar, peanut butter, granulated sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer on medium-low speed until smooth.

 

Add egg white and beat again until smooth.

 

Whisk together flours, oats, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

 

Add flour mixture to banana mixture and beat on medium-low until well blended. 

 

Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.

 

Drop batter by tablespoon full onto a sprayed cookie sheet. 

 

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden (I baked for 15 minutes but they would have been a bit better if they'd cooked a couple minutes less).

 

Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool. 

 

Or don't. Try one to see how you did. Dunking in milk is encouraged, and strongly recommended!

What's the best thing about these cookies? That they combine some of my favorite things? You really can't go wrong when you have banana, peanut butter and chocolate together. Throw in some oats and I'm even happier. Or perhaps its because they're pretty healthy (as far as cookies go) so I didn't feel guilty when I skipped my work-outs in favor of eating cookies. I didn't even feel guilty when I ate five. For lunch. Hey, at least I had 2 glasses of milk to wash them down - that counts for something, right?

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes one dozen cookies.

Adapted from this Cooking Light recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/2 of 1 medium-ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/8 cup peanut butter
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• egg whites from 1 large egg
• heaping 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• heaping 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium-low speed until smooth. Add egg whites and beat well.
3. Whisk together flours, oats, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and beat on medium-low until well blended. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4.  Drop batter by tablespoon full onto spray cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.