This recipe for Oatmeal Banana Cookies aka All-Natural Oatmeal Banana Cookies is a very old one. It pre-dates all the fancy new sugar and flour alternatives readily available today. Butter, banana, oats and vanilla are the base ingredients -- no leavening agents, no extra salt, just those things. But then you can add your embellishments, which in this case are chocolate chips.
Junk Mail Oatmeal Banana Cookies
The recipe is from Sue, who found it in some junk mail. Thanks to this recipe, it turned out not to be junk mail. I've noticed this a lot lately. I'll start throwing something away and notice a realtor or an insurance agent (or the local hospital) has cleverly included a recipe, so of course the mail gets saved. Anyhow, All-Natural Oatmeal Banana Cookies were originally called “Sugarless Oatmeal Cookies” because they don't have any added sugar. In my opinion, with some chocolate chips thrown in, they are just the right sweetness.
I originally described them "as little piles of baked banana oatmeal with add-ins" . Back then I'd' never tried baked oatmeal, but now that I know what baked oatmeal is I'd say these are like miniature versions of baked oatmeal.
Recipe
All-Natural Oatmeal Banana Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup salted butter or vegan butter (plant butter) (80 grams)
- 3 ripe bananas, pureed or very well mashed (350 grams)
- 2 cups quick cooking oats
- ½ c. raisins, Craisins or chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ c. regular milk or almond milk (if needed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl or in a large saucepan.
- Add all remaining ingredients, but watch the milk because you may not need all of it.
- Let stand for about 5 minutes, until oats are soft.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
- For each cookie, spoon out about 1 T. of dough and drop it onto the greased or lined cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute.
- Move the cookies to wire racks or a towel to cool.
Shauna says
What if we used quinoa instead of the oats? Think this will work? I will try it this weekend and let you guys know. Thanks!
Jasmine Yanez says
Omg! They are so good I made them on the spot! There awesome and its weird i made these because i'm not really a fan of bananas but damn there bomb i made them exactly how the recipe said to make them with raisins c:
Sarah says
I really don't like rasins so i replaced them with pennut butter and made them for my dad, for father's day. 🙂 Great recipe, thanks!
Anna says
Hi Stacy! It really depends on what you have. If you use super ripe and brown bananas, the cookies will be a little sweeter.
Stacy says
Do you recommend regularly ripe bananas or over ripe like those you'd use for banana bread? Seems like a silly question since everyone has had success so far.
Marilyn says
I made these, and they were yummy! 🙂 I used 1/4 cup of strawberry yogurt instead of milk. I added about 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and a dash of salt. For the stir-ins, I had frosted dried cranberries, walnuts, and just a few chocolate chips. They are sweet enough, and nutty and delicious. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the recipe. 🙂
Traci says
I made these tonight, and replaced a half a cup of the oats with 1/4 cup flaxseed meal and 1/4 cup oat bran. I also added cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves, since it's nearly Christmas and those spices seem appropriate for this time of year. I softened the butter, but didn't completely melt it, and added craisins but no chocolate chips.
My cookies came out more cake-looking than those pictured above, and less bumpy. They're really good, and I like the added nutrition of the flaxseed meal and oat bran.
They're great! My son suggested we add a little dark brown sugar next time, to add to that warm, middle-of-winter taste. I thought they were great the way we made them, and he didn't seem to have any problem eating them, either!
becka says
Great recipe my family loves them. They are great frozen as well especially on a hot summer day.
Gram says
Darla = Wow! You're popping cookies in the oven at 6.45 am? I'm not even awake yet. lol
Anna says
I'll bet they were great with the Greek yogurt. I just discovered Greek yogurt not too long ago and love it because it has extra protein.
Darla says
I just popped these cookies in the oven, and I just wanted to post a little tweak I made. I used 0% greek yogurt in place of the milk, added a just a handful of chopped pecans, the cinnamon, and a tablespoon of agave nectar, just to bump the sweet up a tiny notch for my hubby. For the raisin or craisin, I used a dried berry pomegranate mixture that is sold at Trader Joe's. They looked great going in the oven, and as I am writing this, they smell great all over my apartment. 🙂 And YAY it's a snow day today!
Magan says
I just made these cookies today. My 8 yr old and 15 mos love them, and they are healthy for them. I have diabetes when Im pregnant which I am pregnant now, so I have to watch my sugar in take. These are great for me as well. I didnt add choc chips in them and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. They came out so good, going to keep the recipe to use again!
Anna says
Hi Rod,
Hey, I love the yogurt idea! I'll bet it adds a little flavor and gives them an even better texture. Thanks for the tip.
Rod says
Anna
What I used instead of 1/4 cup milk was 1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt and old fashion oats. It worked and tasted great. I make them often and carry them with me to work or on my bike
thanks Rod
Anna says
Hi Natalie,
Thanks for the feedback!
Natalie says
I just made these and they are really good!! I love them. I was googling banana oatmeal cookies for something good to use my last two over-ripe bananas for, since the last recipe I tried was nasty and I had throw all the cookies out! I just wanted something healthy but somewhat sweet so I did these without chocolate chips and they turned out great! Thanks for posting it - they are just what I wanted!
doris says
May I know what kind of banana you use to bake this lovely recipe? thanks.
Tami says
If you freeze your ripe bananas first then you won't need to puree them. Just cut off the end of a thawed banana and squeeze it out.
claudia says
these are good! i put in one egg (because I just couldnt believe they'd stay together), and added just over 1/4 cup flour (because the egg made them too moist). and I tell, you, I was really impressed and found this to be really good.
Nat says
I made a batch of these on the weekend, and I thought they were quite nice! I cant get craisins here in Australia, so I used some sort of cranberries that looked kind of like those maraschino cherries, and some choc chips. Good stuff, I love chewy cookies and these hit the spot. I have found they need to be stored with a bit of paper towel in the bottom of the container so they don't just liquefy and go yick
Anna says
Meredith, I think I used about 1/4 cup chocolate chips. I wouldn't sub peanut butter for butter here.
Hillary, pumpkin *might* work. I'm not sure.
hillary says
I've been on a bit of a cooking-with-pumpkin kick since, well, Thanksgiving. I should probably move on flavor-wise, but since I haven't..., do you think I could subsitute pumpkin puree for the bananas in this recipe?
meredith says
So how much butter and choco. chips/raisins did you end up using? Think peanut butter would be a good sub. for regular butter (play up that whole Elvis pb/banana theme?)
Anna says
Lewis, the chunks pretty much make the cookie.
Lisa, I'm surprised that anything with butter could be considered for a cleansing diet. I guess butter is, at least, a natural food. Oil would never work in these.
Carla, I hardly ever do those question/answer things but just this once... ;).
Sue, thanks again for sending it. You get better junk mail than I do.
Cakespy, these are rustic. That's for sure.
Nicole, I found them sweet enough. However, I added chocolate chips! I don't think I'd ever make them without chunks of something sweet like chocolate or raisins.
Emiline, I think they'd work great for diabetics. Not that I'm an expert, but they do have oats and bananas, which I think are okay. I'd probably add some diabetic approved chocolate chips (Splenda sweetened) or something.
Emiline says
These would be good for people on special diets. I never know what to bake for my grandma, since she's a diabetic.
nicole says
do they taste sweet enough even though the recipe doesnt call for any sugar?
Cakespy says
I love really rustic-y, textured gobs of cookie like this. These look awesome!
Sue says
I'm glad you got a chance to try these. I still don't have any bananas in the house so I can try them myself, but I'll put them on the list to try.
Carla says
You've been tagged on my blog 🙂
Anna says
Hi Jessica,
I'm always up for an experiment, so let me know if it works out. However, I must say that the banana was really good here. I'm not sure apple sauce would work as well. Also, the chocolate chips and craisins seemed key. So if you try it with nuts, use a bunch. I think the matrix of oats, butter and fruit is okay, but this dough really needs to wrap itself around something.
Jessica says
I wonder if you could make these with unsweetened applesauce and add nuts and a few spices instead of the raisins or chocolate chips... I may just try it!
Lisa Ernst says
I made a version of this when I was once on a "cleansing diet," trying to get the refined sugar out of my system. The only sweet thing allowed was this cookie sans raisins and chocolate chips. They were pretty good and helped me survive through the five or six weeks of the diet. I did decide, however, that going without dessert was just too much to bear and have made peace with my addiction.
Lewis says
I agree with your review, they do look a bit chunky but delicious! Of course I'm a sucker for anything banana 🙂