Banana Oatmeal Cookies - Plus Mix-Ins of Your Choice!

Another Pinterest find! Original recipe can be found at The Burlap Bag, but it's pretty much the same as what I have here.

Ingredients
2 large, ripe bananas
1 cup quick oats

Examples of add-ins (or nothing at all!)
- chocolate chips
- walnuts
- cinnamon
- raisins
- dried cranberries

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350. Mash bananas until they're mostly smooth. Mix in oatmeal and whatever fix-ins you'd like. 
Grease a cookies sheet or use a silicone baking mat (you have to do one of these, or else the cookies will stick like crazy!). Drop sough on to cookie sheets and flatten with fork. 
Bake 15-18 min. Let sit for a minute or 2, and then transfer to a cooling rack.

I used 3 bananas, 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and some cinnamon. They were really good! I had 18 cookies, and 2 cookies were worth 1 Weight Watchers PlusPoints.
I think next time I'm going to add a tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter... mmmmmm

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Hungry Girl's Triple-Chocolate Softies

Big soft cookies are awesome. Guilt-free, cocoa-infused ones with TWO types of chocolate chips are exceptionally awesome! Preheat the oven, grab a baking sheet, and prepare yourself for the BEST SOFTIES EVER!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. sugar,
2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread(like Brummel & Brown), room temperature
2 tbsp. no-sugar-added applesauce
2 tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2 packets hot cocoa mix with 20 - 25 calories each (like Swiss Miss Diet or Nestlé Fat Free)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. white chocolate chips, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk brown sugar, Splenda, butter, applesauce, egg substitute, and vanilla extract.

Add flour, cocoa mix, baking powder, and salt, and stir until smooth. Fold in oats, chocolate chips, and chopped white chocolate chips.

Spoon batter onto the sheet in 6 evenly spaced mounds. Use the back of a spoon to spread and flatten into 3-inch circles.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a softie comes out mostly clean, about 10 minutes. Eat up!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1 softie (1/6th of recipe)
Calories: 164
Fat: 5g
Sodium: 164mg
Carbs: 27.5g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 17g
Protein: 3g

PointsPlus® value 4*

Homemade Thin Mints

The homemade version of the famous cookie. 

Super easy and so good!

Thanks to my bud Tasha for sharing this recipe :-)

Ingredients

12 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1 to 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Ritz crackers

Directions

1. Melt chips in a double boiler or microwave.
2. Add extract.
3. Dip crackers in chocolate and place on wax paper to harden. 

Sugar Cookies

My mom got married on 9/9/07 and I made 88 sugar cookies for her favors. They are so good! I've made them a few times since, and they always come out great!

I made a double batch of dough about a week in advance and stored it in the freezer. I ended up baking them 3 days before the wedding. We put them in clear bags and tied with pretty fall colored ribbon. They were still great the day of the wedding.

Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla
or
2 tsp fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325F. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets; refrigerate until firm, about 15 min. Remove from refrigerator and decorate with sanding sugar if desired. Bake until edges just start to turn brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 
5. May be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Peppermint Fudge Cookie Sandwiches

Sandwiching a creamy peppermint patty between warm brownie cookies creates an irresistible sweet treat.

Ingredients

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

¼ cup butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup white or semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 candy canes or 8-10 peppermint hard candies (about ¼ cup crushed)

10-12 mini foil-wrapped peppermint patty candies, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Line Large Sheet Pan with a 10-in. sheet of Parchment Paper. Combine chocolate morsels and butter inClassic Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 40-60 seconds or until smooth, stirring after each 20-second interval using Classic Scraper. Add sugar and egg to batter bowl; mix until well blended. Add flour; mix just until flour is incorporated. Using Small Scoop, drop 20 level scoops of batter, 1 in. apart, onto pan. Bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are set. Do not overbake.
3. Meanwhile, place candy canes into resealable plastic bag; crush using flat side of Meat Tenderizer and set aside. Place white chocolate morsels into Small Micro-Cooker®; microwave, uncovered, on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring once. Set aside.
4. Remove sheet pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack. Immediately turn over half of the cookies using Mini-Serving Spatula; top with peppermint patties and remaining cookies to form 10 sandwiches. Drizzle chocolate over cookies and immediately sprinkle with crushed candies. Transfer to platter. Line pan with additional parchment and scoop with remaining batter. Bake 9-10 minutes. Assemble as directed above.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

The original recipe can be found here - Picky Palate - but I found the chocolate chip cookies in that recipe to be a bit too dense and dry, so I made the second batch with the traditional Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe and they were WAY better!

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 package of Double Stuf Oreos

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.
2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. 
3. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. 
4. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE Cookies.

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Original Recipe From: BigY.com

Ingredients

1 can chocolate fudge creamy frosting
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375F. 
2. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Reserve 1/3 cup frosting. 
3. In large bowl combine remaining frosting, peanut butter and egg and blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. 
4. By hand, stir in flour. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Flatten each to 2 inch diameter with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. 
5. Bake at 375F for 4-7 minutes or until set. Lightly frost with reserved frosting.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Cook's Tip: I like to sprinkle colored sprinkles or mini M&Ms on top while the frosting is still wet.

Easy Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Grape Nuts cereal

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup golden raisins

1 1/2 cups pecans or walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Whisk together oats, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cereal, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into oat/flour mixture until just combined, and then stir in raisins and nuts.
3. Drop cookies by the rounded tablespoon onto a Silpat (or parchment paper) lined baking sheet about 2" apart. Bake until cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes 4-dozen 2" cookies.