These Banana Oat Muffin Top Cookies are a crazy hybrid of banana bread, oatmeal cookies, and muffin tops. They have incredible banana flavor, since you are using 4 overripe mashed bananas, they are chewy from the oatmeal with crisp edges like a good cookie, but super moist and fluffy like a good muffin top. An absolutely awesome creation that is perfect for breakfast or dessert! If you have some overripe bananas on hand, but have made more than your fair share of banana bread during quarantine, this is the answer you have been looking for.
These are also super easy to make! Since I know a lot of you don’t have electric mixers, I formulated this recipe so you don’t need any special equipment! Just a wooden spoon, large bowl, and some arm strength!
First you will combine your SUPER soft, room temperature butter with the granulated and brown sugars. I leave the butter out for a few hours to get it really soft, which makes it a lot easier to combine with the sugars since you are only using a wooden spoon. Once your butter and sugar mix is combined and smooth, add in your egg and vanilla. Mix until you have a smooth batter.
Once your batter is smooth, add in your overripe bananas and mash them with the back of your spoon. You can also use roasted bananas. Stir until the batter is combined and there are no longer any large chunks of banana. The batter will look a little strange and curdled at that point, but it will smooth out as soon as you add your dry ingredients. So don’t fret! Stir in your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon) and stir to combine. You should have a nice smooth batter now!
Once you have the batter formed, stir in your oats. You can bake up the cookies just like this, without any other mix-ins! They are delicious this way. But you can also add about 2 cups of mix ins like chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, nuts, or dried fruit, or a combination of any of these to make the cookies just how you want them! I will usually bake a few of each! I make a batch of plain and then divide the remaining batter to make some with chocolate or peanut butter chips, etc.
Once your batter is made, using a cookie scoop or large spoon, scoop 2.5 tablespoon amounts of batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. They will spread a bit, so make sure your cookies are spaced about 2 or so inches apart. These Banana Oat Muffin Top Cookies are delicious plain or topped with peanut butter. Grab one (or many) and enjoy!
For other uses for those overripe bananas, check out my Peanut Butter Banana Bread Squares and Bananas Foster Upside Down Cake!
Banana Oat Muffin Top Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) room temperature, extremely softened
- 1 cup dark brown sugar gently packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 overripe bananas
- 3 cups old fashioned or extra thick oats
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups mix-ins of choice (optional) i.e. dark chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, nuts, raisins, coconut, dried figs etc.
- Coarse sugar (optional) for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a large baking sheet by covering it with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is creamy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- Add in your bananas and mash with the back of your spoon. Stir until the mix is combined and there are no large pieces of banana. The batter might look a little curdled but that is totally fine, it will fix itself when you add the dry ingredients.
- Stir in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon) until combined.
- Stir in the oats and any mix ins. The dough will seem very wet, like a cake batter. That is what you want!
- Scoop 2.5 tablespoon amounts of cookie dough onto the baking sheet. This is a LOT easier if you have a cookie scoop. These cookies will spread a bit so space them a few inches apart.
- If you want more of a muffin top type of feel, you can sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar before baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms are golden brown and set. The center should still be soft.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
I can’t wait to bake these amazing creations!