Chocolate chip-banana-oatmeal cookies

• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg, if you’re “into nutmeg”… I’m not)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 c softened butter (that’s a stick and half… yikes. canola oil or vegetable shortening probably also work?)
• 2 1/2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 large egg (of the chicken variety)
• 2 c oatmeal (the recipe calls for quick-cooking, which is what I had on hand* …the regular kind probably also works though?)
• 2 c semisweet chocolate chips or 1 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375˚F**. Grease or parchment paper a cookie sheet. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the first four ingredients. Add the butter and mix until crumbly. Add the bananas, egg, and oatmeal, and mix well. Finally, add the chocolate (and nuts, if ya got ‘em), and mix well. Drop about a dinner spoon sized glop for each cookie onto the sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes**. Cool on a cookie rack and serve warm with cold milk!

* We had “Coach’s” brand oats… I do not know who “coach” is, or why we have his oats.

** I had my doubts about the time and temperature, but they have since vanished. I tried 350˚F for shorter (which is what I am used to for other cookies) but the 375˚F for longer batch was markedly better (still soft on the inside, but nice and crispy on the outside). I daresay 385˚F or even 400˚F might work! Baking: it’s like science, only not at all.