Have I told you how much I love frozen bananas? They are the best for baking! I make muffins, cakes and even pancakes with the slimy, tasty black creatures. I have my favorite recipes to use frozen bananas with and today I wanted to try a cookie recipe. I typically enjoy a chewy or crisp cookie and this recipe … compliments of Yvonne Miller from Chenango Forks, New York … results in a nice cakey cookie. The classic combination of banana and chocolate with the added touch of cinnamon and cloves is delicious. Keep an eye on the cooking time, though … I’ve made some notes below.

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Banana Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 medium frozen bananas, mashed
2 cups, quick-cooking oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the bananas, oats and chocolate chips.

2. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2” apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes. Immediately remove to wire racks to cool.

This cookie dough has a very cakey texture. It’s almost like banana bread. And the finished product is cakey and very chocolatey. For this time around I didn’t have frozen bananas at hand and used some over-ripe bananas so the taste was very mild. Next time I would be sure to use bananas that I had frozen, because it intensifies the banana flavor.

Two things about the baking of these cookies: First, I didn’t grease my baking sheets. To be honest, I didn’t even notice this step in the recipe! The cookies came off the sheet with no problem. Second, 10-12 minutes is a bit long at the higher temperature. The first batch cooked for 11 minutes and their bottoms were a little dark. Same with the second tray that was in the oven for 10 minutes. I baked the rest for 9 minutes and they were perfect.

What does Norma say about the Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies? When my most favorite baking Guru Shelley first told me about frozen bananas being so much better and more flavourful in baking, I took one look at the scary slimy things and decided we needed to talk about friendship boundaries—I was so wrong! They really do give the bake a much more concentrated and delicious banana flavor. These were some of the best banana based cookies I have ever had and I was a total convert to the frozen banana brigade!

TEMPTATION LEVEL out of 10: Your self control will get a real workout with these banana flavored beauties, pace yourself or they’ll be gone before bedtime 😀 Another 10 out of 10!