Bowl of Oatmeal Cookies
These homey cookies have everything a good bowl of oatmeal should have, in my humble opinion. Bananas, walnuts, peanut butter, cinnamon, and sure, why not chocolate. I believe chocolate makes almost anything better. I may not put chocolate in my oatmeal very often, but I’ve not NEVER done it, but in this cookie, which hopefully you won’t be eating for breakfast, it is definitely an improvement. There is something DEEPLY satisfying about this one. Use chewy dried bananas for these. If you can't find them, leave them out or use another dried fruit that you love! This dough can be baked right away, and it can also be chilled. Just add about 2 minutes to the baking time if the dough is cold.
1¼ cups rolled oats (old-fashioned, not instant)
¾ cup/96 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup/1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup/100g light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup/50 g granulated sugar
½ cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup dried banana slices
1 cup/98 g walnuts, lightly toasted and broken up by hand
4 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
Heat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
Combine butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream until light and fluffy, scraping once or twice.
Add peanut butter and beat until smoothly combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the oat mixture and beat on low speed until fully combined.
Add bananas, walnuts, and chocolate and beat just until combined. Spoon the dough out on a parchment-line baking sheet in heaping teaspoonfuls and flatten slightly (the dough won’t spread very much).
Bake sheets in batches for 10-12 minutes until the tops are getting toasty. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.