Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

It almost slipped by me unnoticed. I’ve been chugging along on here for so long that it has become very much part of my existence. It wasn’t until I received a message on LinkedIn from my aunt that I realized I’ve reached the five year anniversary for The Hungry Hutch! I’d say that’s cause for a celebration if you ask me. Raise your glass of wine as I offer up a toast.

This whole thing started as a nifty little side project to help occupy my time outside of my then finance day job. I liked to cook, so why not share it with the rest of the world? When I look back at those early posts—the first couple of years, really—I can’t help but be proud of how much progress I’ve made. My writing has improved, my pictures are leaps and bounds better thanks to my Canon DSLR camera, I did a whole site redesign (which I’m still working a few kinks out of), and I recently launched a store page through Amazon. I’ve gotten the chance to meet and work with some great people and organizations. Most of all I’m grateful that you’ve allowed me take a part of your day. Whether you’ve been a long time supporter and have tried out some of my recipes in your own kitchen, or this is your first time stopping by and you just enjoy looking at the pictures—thank you.

And if you’d like to congratulate me with some great gifts from Uncommon Goods, then I wouldn’t be mad at you.

Some of my recipes come out of pure necessity. The one featured here came about because I had a couple of bananas on the brink of extinction and wanted to make some use of them. Other times they would be perfect for banana bread, but this Saturday morning I decided to make cookies to bring to the beach for a friend’s birthday. Ripe bananas are a pretty good alternative to butter in baking to help cut down on the fat. Thanks to this substitution I think of these treats as not that bad for you—or even mildly healthy. They are low on fat, lack much added sugar, full of fiber from the oats, moist, and delicious. The recipe below yields kind of a lot of cookies, so feel free to cut in half to make less.

Ingredients (yields approx. 3 1/2 dozen cookies):

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 super ripe bananas
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Cream together butter, bananas, and sugar.
3. Mix in egg and vanilla until fully incorporated.
4. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Combine with other ingredients in the mixing bowl. Add in the oats and chocolate chips last.
5. Scoop onto a lined cookie sheet. (These cookies don’t spread because of the lack of fat, so press them down if you want disks instead of balls.) Bake for roughly 12 minutes.

Note: This is a sponsored post by Uncommon Goods.