Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This week I read the kids the book All in Just One Cookie by Susan E. Goodman. I saw it at the library and wondered if my kids knew about the ingredients that go into making a chocolate chip cookie or where they came from, other than the grocery store. The book is a story about a grandma making  chocolate chip cookies while her pet cat and dog research where and how the ingredients are made. The kids got a laugh from the pets' adventures and I like how it tells the kids the origins of vanilla and how butter and sugar are made. Well, after reading the story it made us want chocolate chip cookies so we baked up a batch with my new pantry ingredients.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 1/4 cups of organic whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) organic butter, softened
3/4 cup turbinado sugar (like Sugar in The Raw)
3/4 cup date sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (I love Nielsen-Massey vanilla that's why I use 2 tsp, but you can use 1 tsp)
2 large eggs, room temperature ( if you forget just place them in a cup of hot not boiling water for a minute or two to take the chill off)
2 really ripe bananas (the mushy black skin almost want to throw away ripe)
2 cups of chocolate chunks (ours were 60% Chocovic Kendari dark chocolate)
1 cup of  organic rolled oats

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream the butter and turbinado sugar for two to three minutes. Add the date sugar and mix for another minute or two. Add the vanilla extract and mashed bananas and cream for another minute.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda).
6. Fold in the chocolate chunks and oatmeal.
7. Using a cookie scoop or drop by rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.
8. Bake for seven minutes, rotate the pan and bake for another six to seven minutes. Let them cool a few minutes before serving.

These taste like little drops of banana bread when you eat them hot out of the oven. If you can wait for them to cool the flavor changes and then they taste like little date banana cakes. Even my kids who don't care for dates like them and wanted me to make more so they can share with classmates.

I like them, but then I like all things with chocolate. I think that the next time I make them I'll leave out the turbinado sugar and use all date sugar because it was plenty sweet with the ripe bananas. So far so good with my mission to eat healthier. I'm even obsessed with having greens everyday. It's funny, the more vegetables I eat the more I want and I am even turning my nose to my beloved ice cream!!