Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Printable)
Soft, chewy cookies bursting with ripe banana flavor and wholesome oats—a perfect anytime snack.
# What You'll Need:
→ Wet Ingredients
01 - 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
02 - 1/2 cup 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 1/2 cups rolled oats
08 - 1 cup all-purpose flour
09 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 - 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
11 - 1/4 teaspoon salt
→ Mix-ins
12 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts
# How to Make It:
01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
02 - In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together using an electric mixer or whisk until the mixture is light and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
03 - Add the mashed bananas, egg, and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture. Stir until all wet ingredients are well combined and smooth.
04 - In a separate bowl, whisk together the rolled oats, all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt until evenly distributed.
05 - Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients, folding gently with a spatula until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
06 - Gently fold in the chocolate chips or chopped walnuts, distributing them evenly throughout the dough.
07 - Drop tablespoon-sized mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them approximately 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
08 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown while the centers remain soft and slightly underdone.
09 - Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before serving.
# Expert Advice:
01 -
- They use up those sad freckled bananas nobody wants to eat, turning food waste into something genuinely exciting.
- The texture walks a perfect line between chewy oatmeal cookie and moist banana bread, which means nobody can eat just one.
02 -
- Overbaking is the number one mistake with banana cookies, because the centers look done before they actually are, so pull them when edges are just golden.
- Mashing the bananas thoroughly with a fork before adding them prevents unappealing lumps that surprise people midbite.
03 -
- Chill the dough for thirty minutes before baking if your kitchen is warm, because firm dough spreads less and produces thicker, chewier cookies.
- Use the ripest bananas you can stand to look at, since the sugar concentration doubles as the skin blackens, making your cookies sweeter without adding extra sugar.