Hi Everyone –

Sorry to be so behind in my postings this week! I guess things are just sort of busy with the holidays and at work – a double serving of busy!

Today at work is the office cookie swap. Fun times! This year I tried to be creative with my cookies. I find that with baking it can be really hard to be creative and mess around with ingredients, etc. but I gave it my best shot.

I am bringing in cookies that I had never tested out or made before – pretty daring on my part, I think.

What did I end up with? Oatmeal / banana cookies with raisins and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I will post a picture soon! Ben and I both tasted one last night, and I think they are ok!

Here is the recipe (sort of!)

• 2 cups oats
• 1 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks of butter (next time I’m going to do one stick butter and a serving of apple sauce as a replacement for the other! this is way too much butter, i think!)
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon vanilla (i added a little bit more than this!)
• 1 teaspoon (or how ever much you want!) of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger (you can add more or less)
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (i think i added a little more of this)
• 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
• 1 ripe banana (mashed!)
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup raisins

In a large bowl beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy (1 minute). Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add oats, flour and other dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until blended. Add mashed banana and mix again. Add semi-sweet chocolate and raisins and mix on medium speed until evenly incorporated into the rest of the mix.  Drop batter on cookie sheets, cook for 10 – 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Once cookies are done, let cool on wire wrack.

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Post cookie swap note:

Apparently, the cookies were a hit. I received several comments regarding the cookies and what an interesting combo the banana was!

Here is a pciture of a few of the cookies by the time I remembered to go back upstairs to my office to grab my camera. 🙂  They went quickly!