Oatmeal Banana Snack Cookies

 I don't know why but I'm not a fan of just eating bananas, which seems silly considering I love them frozen in smoothies/shakes, baked in all forms, and back when I ate candy - those banana runts were the best! Hah! My husband doesn't really grab for them either and the baby just likes to smash them up with his hands and then rub them all over his tray, clothes, and hair before he even thinks about eating them... so we often have brown bananas. We all love my Banana Peanut Butter Muffins, but I already have a batch in the fridge and another in the freezer for next week, so I wanted to try something new. A while back I saw a "3-ingredient cookie" posted on Facebook but could only remember 2 of the ingredients - bananas and oatmeal. So I just went with it. Sometimes it's so much fun to experiment in the kitchen!

The base of this recipes is honestly just bananas and old-fashioned oats. No pre-packaged mix as "one" ingredient when it's really like 20, most being items I don't even know how to pronounce!

Two of my favorite things about this recipe:

1. The absolute versatility - whatever flavor you want!
2. You can straight up eat the batter if you so choose, I definitely got caught licking the last bits out of the bowl with the spoon...

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Oatmeal Banana Snack Cookies
gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free, sugar free

• 3 ripe bananas (mine were on the smaller side)
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• Any mix-ins ...if desired. You DON'T have to use anything.*
  
  I used: 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/4cup unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/4 cup sun flower seeds, 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup almond slivers

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Mash bananas and mix in oats (I used my kitchen aid, but I'm sure you could do this by hand or with a hand mixer)
3) Slowly add mix-ins, you want the "batter" to remain moist, so if it starts getting crumbly you probably added too many things and may need to add another half of a banana
4) Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a greased cooking sheet
5) Slightly flatten to form more of a cookie shape
6) Bake for 11min

Yield: This recipe made us 21 snack sized cookies

*Additional mix-in ideas: dried fruit (raisins, cranberries), I also think cocoa powder could make these a little more dessert-like
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Before I added the nuts, seeds, and chocolate I made two with just cinnamon and coconut, they are little man approved! However, I should have baked his for 9-10min instead so they would have been softer and the coconut wouldn't have gotten "crispy."

 Are you a banana fan?
-Tay