A new Fav Cookie: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

 I was attracted to these cookies looking on foodgawker, which, by the way, is also my new favorite website to go to when I am bored or need inspiration.  Foodgawker is great as it displays the food by picture without any pesky words to distract you. I made these after a long break from any baking.  I quit baking as it was turning out to be the only hobby I had and I wanted to get back into reading and exercising, not just baking and eating the goods!  My bake break worked and I have since expanded my repetoire of hobbies and can now return to baking without feeling guilty about ignoring other fun activities I also enjoy.  I didn't just want to return to making the same old cookies I made every holiday and found these cookies surfing the internet and tried them out.  I was a bit intrigued by the bananas and was unsure how they would turn out, but, they turned out delicious.  Only, unlike a lot of cookies, these cookies taste better when cooled or even the next day.  They become very moist and banana-like. 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 bananas, cut into 1/4 to1/3 inch pieces

What I did Next:
1) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F  have the rack in the middle of the oven for best results
2) You can line your pans with parchment paper, silpat or nothing if you feel brave
3)  Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
4) In another bowl (or mixer) beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and blended.  This will take about a minute
5) Add egg and vanilla and mix until blended; around 1 minute.  At this point, the mix might look a bit curdled
6) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture until just incorporated.  Mix in oatmeal, mix in chocolate chips.  Mix in banana pieces until just incorporated and some are mashed, but some are still pieces
7) I use an ice cream scoop (about 3 tbs) to scoop out dough onto the pans making sure to leave a lot of space!
8) Bake about 18 minutes.  Avoid my constant mistake of overbaking cookies.  Bake until the edges are lightly browned and tops look dry. 
9) Let cookie cool on pan for 10 min before transferring to wire rack to cool further

Cookie tips: 
Let cookies rest on pans for the best baked cookie and to avoid breaking cookies when taking them off the pan, it really does make a difference.

Bake cookies one sheet at a time, or, if you must do 2, rotate halfway through baking time

Do not overbake! Cookies will, for the most part, look a little udnercooked/barely brown when it is time to take them out of the oven.

Cool cookie sheets for the most part before putting cookie dough on the cookie sheets