Oatmeal Banana Pecan Cookies

I can't remember why I made these, other than the fact that I felt like baking in the morning before a jog. Come to think of it, I can't remember how they tasted, or even where I got the recipe/idea from. Not necessarily a good sign in cooking (you want your concoctions to be memorable), but I like the look of them in the photo and the name (you can't go wrong with bananas or pecans in baking, really) that I've decided to share them anyway. Once I track down the recipe....

Oh, thank goodness I save everything! I found a sticky note with the recipe in my big orange recipe binder (yay for being somewhat organized!).

It turns out this cookie also came from the book Crazy About Cookies by Krystina Castella, where my Snickerdoodle recipe was from. Now I remember. I flagged about a hundred recipes (well, at least 35) in the collection of "300 scrumptious recipes for every occasion and craving" and wanted to try baking my way through the book. So far my progress on that has been: two. But now with only one job to worry about and the Christmas cookie season approaching, perhaps I'll be able to get even further in my goal!

But back to bananas and pecans. And oatmeal. Oh I do love a good oatmeal cookie. And it's healthy too. Add some fruit and heart-healthy nuts in there and you really can't call my Oatmeal Banana Pecan Cookies a "guilty pleasure," but rather just a "pleasure." I think. It has been quite a while since I tasted them....

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup dried banana chips (I left this out, having no banana chips)
Optional 3/4 cup pecans (I put this in rather than the other options of chocolate chips or raisins).

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2.) In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy (again, you can use an electric mixer for this, or just your arm muscles). Beat in the banana, egg and vanilla as well.

3.) Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well blended. Stir in the pecans. Then drop about 1 Tablespoon-sized mounds onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment (not wax) paper or greased with non-stick cooking spray.

4.) Bake about 8-12 minutes and let cool slightly before eating!

You'll have to let me know how these turned out. Even if my memory's going already, at least I have a blog of recipes and photos to document everything I make so that one day when my memory's really gone I'll still be able to recreate a few treats and pass them along to those with better memories than me.