Adventures in Baking: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I told you I wouldn't stay away too long!! I have so many great recipes to share so you will be seeing a lot more of me. I'm totally addicted to Pinterest these days so I am finding new food blogs and recipes all the time; as well as fun baby things, home decor ideas, and DIY projects that I'm dying to try. Back to the food... I had some ripe bananas and now that I have the opportunity to spend more time in my lovely new kitchen I figured rather than waste them and throw them away I should use them. I perused Pinterest where there were plenty of banana bread recipes but then I came across this cookie recipe and I had to try it. Bananas and oats and chocolate chips just sounded so damn good. I gave it a shot and I have to say my first attempt at making cookies from scratch was totally successful. Ok, ok, I'll admit they were a bit spongy and some got a little dark on the bottom but I think that's easily fixed by cutting back the baking time a bit. I also may have over mixed my dough but quite frankly, the Kitchen Aid Mixer and I just started dating so we are still getting to know each other. Now that I know her a little better I'm sure they'll be close to perfect next time.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

About 1 medium banana, mashed
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lg egg
about 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups old fashion rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet choc chips (I really like a cookie with lots of chocolate chips so I suggest adding 3/4 to 1 cup)
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine first 5 ingredients, through vanilla extract, in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add egg, beat well.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine flour, oats, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to banana mixture in bowl, beat with mixer at medium speed until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Coat baking sheets with cooking spray. Drop batter by the tablespoon onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until cookies are golden. Cool on pans 2 minutes them move to wire cooling racks to finish cooling.

recipe adapted from myrecipes.com

Adventures in Baking: Zucchini Whoopee Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

So, I had this grand idea a couple months back that I was going to start a whoopee pie business. I mean, these days, my grand ideas need to get in line cuz I keep having them, but I ain't doin them! Funny thing about this particular idea is that I'm a terrible baker. My first attempt was just short of awful... ok, it was awful. The pies had these weird chewy chunks in them and the filling was way too runny. After this attempt, I was pretty convinced that whoopee pies would not make me famous. Just as I was about to give up on my latest and greatest plan, I stumbled upon this recipe for zucchini cookie sandwiches... aka zucchini whoopee pies! Clearly my business was not going to happen over night and I was not going to become a top notch baker without a little, ok, a lot more practice so I figured why the heck not try my hand at these little guys and with just a couple minor hiccups in the process I ended up with an uber delicious end result and my excitement and ambition for this new venture is back! I still have a lot more practicing to do but at least now I know it's possible which makes me very happy.


The texture of the zucchini cookies is perfect for whoopee pies and the cream cheese filling worked out way better than the marshmallow fluff filling I attempted last time. It is the perfect consistency to hold the yummy cookies in place. I think the only change I will make at this point is to make the cookies smaller next time. Oh, and the recipe I used called for walnuts which I decided not to include because I'm not a huge fan of nuts but I have to say, I think I will include them next time. I think they'll add a little needed crunch.


So, without further adieu... a super yummy recipe for baked goods that even I could make! Enjoy!


Zucchini Whoopee Pies


1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
coarse salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated zucchini
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted


Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt into a bowl. Set aside. 


In a large mixing bowl, beat 1 stick of butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop heaping tablespoons of zucchini batter about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.


Beat together remaining 1/2 stick of butter, cream cheese, and confectioner's sugar until smooth. When cookies are cool enough to handle, drop a heaping tablespoon full of filling onto bottom side of one cookie and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.


Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart