What's for dinner?: Banana-Oatmeal-Choc Chip Cookies

As I've mentioned before, my sister has been so kind to help me get rid of a few too many Swiss chocolates I ate and sent me a meal plan with lots of healthy tips. Even which fruit are safe (sugar wise) to eat and which to stay far away from -e.g. bananas :-( She's also been sending me some healthy recipes including this one for cookies. Okay so maybe cookies aren't exactly healthy, but it's a healthier alternative if you're going to eat cookies. I baked them today and they turned out so yummy. I left a few spoonfuls in the bowl on purpose to eat while their baking ( don't tell my sister!)

I'll first give you her recipe and then I'll tell you what I did.

Banana-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep: 10 minutes; Cook: 25 minutes.

Ingredients

1 cup oat flour

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain soy milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 ripe banana, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or other favorite nut

1/3 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips (such as Tropical Source)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 6 ingredients (through sugar) in a bowl. Whisk together oil, soy milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; stir to combine. Fold in banana, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough onto pan with a small ice-cream scoop. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown, turning baking sheet halfway through. Let cool on a wire rack.

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Now in America-land you get all weird and wonderful stuff in the grocery store. Like vegan choc chips? Semisweet?? What is that? Okay, maybe I'm just jealous because you get ANYTHING and everything in the grocery stores there and it's even labeled in English. (But seriously, I don't know what that is.) Anyway. Since I live in Switzerland and I'm not going to buy soy milk no matter where I live she helped me adapt the recipe a bit. Then I adapted it a bit more myself. (After translating the ingredients into German before going shopping.)

Instead of oat flour I used 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour.

Instead of raw sugar I used 1 1/2 c brown sugar.

Instead of the oil I used 1 c butter.

I couldn't find baking soda so only used the baking powder.

I added 2 eggs.

I didn't use any milk.

I didn't add any nuts.

I had a choice between chocolate choc chips or caramel and chocolate chips mixed. No vegan... I used the caramel and choc mix. Really good. Use whatever you find or like.

I just noticed that the recipe says 3/4 c oats, but in the revised recipe she told me to use 3 c oats. Don't know if that was a typing error she made, but I used 3 c and it worked fine. I think only 3/4 c would be too little. Is this getting too confusing? Yes I agree, let me type up exactly what I did and then you can decide which one to follow.

Combine: 1 c butter + 1 1/2 c sugar

Add: 2 eggs + 1 t vanilla

Add: 1/2 t baking powder + 1 1/4 c flour + 1/2 t salt

Add: 3 c oats + 1 c choc chips + 1/2 banana

Then some extras which sister adds, but I didn't. Might try it next time.

-1 c raisins (might try this instead of choc chips for a less kj version)

-2 t cinnamon (I forgot to buy..)

For those of you not baking in the US: 350F = 190C

This recipe says bake for 25 min. In one email my sister said bake for 12 min and in another bake for 9-10 min so I guess it's really up to you!! I started with the 9-10 min then took it out. The next batch I tried for 25 min. Luckily I checked on them after about 15 min and I saved them just in time! I put the first batch back in again after food critic André said he liked the longer baked ones better. I agree.

Simóne says she freezes hers and eats them straight from the freezer. Oh and I forgot to mention, the rule is one biscuit as your sweet treat per day ONLY. I will try that. The freezer part, I can't promise anything about the one per day part. I can imagine it will make them nice and crunchy.

Hey I just noticed on this original recipe it says 1/3 c choc chips but on the revised one she sent me she said 1 c! I guess she decided there's no hope getting this sister into canola oil, soy milk and vegan chocolates. Might as well give her the full fat version. So if you're not bothered then go ahead and add those choc chips!!

I'm not sure if this really was what I know as vanilla essence. I'm used to it being a very dark colour and this didn't smell as good. I love the smell of vanilla essence. But it tasted good. I added one whole little bottle. It wasn't as much as the recipe said though.