Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies...are incredible. And incredibly soft. And contain an incredible combination - peanut butter + bananas + chocolate.

Oh man.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe from How Sweet It Is)

1 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup + 1 teaspoon whole wheat pastry flour (or you can just do all all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
6 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled
1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare the butter and the peanut butter by measuring them melting them in the microwave - so that you can get it in the fridge and cooling.

Mix the flours, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together cooled butter and cooled peanut butter with both sugars until combined. Whisk in egg yolk and vanilla extract until smooth. Add in the mashed banana and mix until combined - mixture will not be smooth. Gradually add in the dry ingredients and fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, shape the dough into the size of a golfball and place on nonstick baking sheet about 2 inches apart from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the middles are puffy - do not overbake! Let cool and then eat!!! 

They will stay very soft because of the banana - even after a couple of days. 

We made our cookie into ice cream sandwiches - they were amazing!!!

Best Ever Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Peanut Butter Banana Bread - 1 loaf (1/4 loaf)

1 cup (1/4 cup) brown sugar

2/3 cup (1/6 cup) of organic peanut butter

4 Tbsp (2 Tbsp) strawberry yogurt split in two

1 cup (1/4 cup) mashed banana (1 small banana for the 1/4 loaf)

1 2/3 cup (1/4 plus 1/6) cup of flour

1 tsp (1/4 tsp) baking soda

1/4 tsp (pinch) of baking powder

1/4 tsp (pinch) of salt

Preheat oven 350° F. Grease and flour a 1-pound loaf pan. In a large bowl, beat sugar and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons of the yogurt until blended then add bananas and the remaining yogurt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds.

Stir in remaining ingredients until just combined then pour into loaf pan. Bake 55-60 minutes (40 minutes) or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Wrap tightly in wax paper and then in a layer of aluminum foil. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal For One

Over spring break I saw this recipe from this blog via pinterest and knew I needed to make it! It's hard to make breakfast (other than toast and cereal or something) when your family isn't much of a breakfast family, or they aren't there when you're making it! So I was very excited to find several "for one" recipes on that blog.

If you're a college student and have limited resources... I think you'll find you may actually be able to make this! You'll need access to an oven of course - and these ingredients... but they are pretty standard ingredients that you should invest in for future use! But you don't need any special cooking gadgets, which is so nice! But be sure you use a heat-proof bowl!

Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal for One

1 packet of brown sugar/maple oatmeal

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/3 cup of milk (organic 1%)

1/3 mashed banana, about 1 medium banana

1 egg white

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

maple syrup or walnuts for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, mashed banana, egg white, and vanilla extract.

Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir until combined. Pour mixture into prepared bowl.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until oatmeal is puffed and set.

Serve warm with maple syrup and/or chopped walnuts.

Calories: 321

Carbs: 65

Fat: 3

Protein: 11

Tips: Yes, do add some maple syrup. And it needs a little texture. Either throw some granola on top or maybe try mixing it in.

Next time, I might try and make some sort of crust for it. To give it some more texture...