Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Printable version)
Soft banana oat cookies bursting with ripe banana flavor and hearty rolled oats, ready in 27 minutes.
# What you need:
→ Wet Ingredients
01 - 2 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
02 - 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
03 - 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
04 - 1/4 cup granulated sugar
05 - 1 large egg
06 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
→ Dry Ingredients
07 - 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
08 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
09 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 - 1/2 teaspoon salt
11 - 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
→ Optional Add-ins
12 - 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped walnuts
# How To:
01 - Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
02 - In a large mixing bowl, beat together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
03 - Add the mashed bananas, egg, and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture. Beat until fully combined and smooth.
04 - In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt until evenly distributed.
05 - Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined. Avoid overmixing.
06 - Gently fold in the rolled oats and, if desired, the chocolate chips or chopped walnuts until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
07 - Drop rounded tablespoon-sized mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
08 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the edges are golden brown and the centers appear just set.
09 - Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
# Expert Advice:
01 -
- They taste like banana bread decided to become portable and chewy and frankly better.
- The dough comes together in one bowl with zero fuss and bakes in under fifteen minutes.
- They freeze beautifully, which means you can hide a batch from yourself and rediscover it on a hard Tuesday.
02 -
- Pulling the cookies out when the centers look slightly underdone is the single trick that keeps them chewy for days instead of turning hard overnight.
- Measuring flour by scooping directly with the cup packs it down and can add up to 30 percent too much flour, resulting in dry crumbly cookies.
03 -
- If your bananas are not quite ripe enough, bake them whole and unpeeled at 150°C (300°F) for 15 minutes until the skins blacken and the insides turn syrupy sweet.
- Chilling the dough for 30 minutes before scooping prevents excessive spreading and concentrates the flavor in a way that makes a real difference.