From Words To Table

I like to keep track of how quickly a recipe transforms from words I read to food I can taste. There are some recipes that remain in my to-cook pile for years. I would re-read them over and over but the motivation to cook from them is never quite strong enough. On the other hand, there are recipes that jump from words to table in the blink of an eye. Last Thursday I experienced it with a recipe that BAKED posted on their newsfeed. It was a recipe for banana chocolate chip cookies made with olive oil which the author cutely named The Booodseees. It inspired me to make cookies with banana, oil, oats, and whole wheat pastry flour but that was pretty much where the similarity ended between my version and The Booodseees. Within 5 minutes of scanning the directions, I was already in my kitchen scaling out ingredients. I was ready to create my own twist of Caramel Banana Peanut Cookies.

These soft chewy cookies tastes of caramelized banana and loads of peanut flavour from using peanut oil, roasted peanuts, and mini Reese’s peanut butter cups. Coincidentally, these cookies are made with 100% whole grain thanks to oat flour, rolled oats, and whole wheat pastry flour. A touch of crunchy toffee pieces studded the cookies to echo the caramel taste. I could not stop at just one. Thank you BAKED for a link to the original recipes! Had I not seen the recipe, I wouldn’t be inspired to create my own version.

Caramel Banana Peanut Cookies

inspired by The Booodseees
yields 25 cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoon water
• 2 large bananas, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup peanut oil (cold pressed)
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oat
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup Skor toffee pieces
• 1 cup mini Reese peanut butter baking bits

Method

1. To make caramel banana puree: in a medium heavy bottom saucepan, combine sugar and water. Cook undisturbed over medium high heat until it turns into dark amber colour. Remove from heat and add all the banana pieces to the caramel. The caramel will sizzle violently. Return to heat and simmer until banana breaks down. Stir in butter and vanilla extract. Cool to room temperature. You can make this up to a day in advance.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two 11x17 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Using an immersion blender, puree the caramel bananas until smooth. Measure out 1 cup of puree. In a large mixing bowl, stir together banana puree, peanut oil, and egg until smooth. Set aside.
4. In another mixing bowl, blend oat flour, rolled oats, whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gently stir dry mixture into wet mixture until combine. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in roasted peanuts, toffee pieces, and butter butter baking bits. Scoop out 2 tablespoon dollops onto prepared baking sheet. This dough doesn’t spread much so you can put 12-14 balls of dough per baking sheet.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until top is dry is lightly browned. Let the cookie cool on baking sheet for 1 minute. They are quite puffy at this point. If you prefer a chewier cookie, you can flatten the cookie at this point with a piece of parchment paper and a flat bottom bowl. Cool completely on rack. Cookies keep well in airtight container for up to three days.