Choc Chip, Peanut Butter, Banana, Oat Cookies

Now here's a combination. Seriously though. Everything that is good in the world, all rolled up into one cookie. I needed a cure for some serious boredom one afternoon, so baking it was. I specifically set out to bake something involving oats and peanut butter. I kind of wanted to re-create my morning bowl of oatmeal, in cookie form. And this is pretty close. Oatmeal is one of my favourite breakfasts, and the toppings are always the same - banana, chia seeds, cinnamon, and a dollop of peanut butter. It's so good. (Recipe soon to come). And these cookies include all of those things, plus chocolate. What's not to love? I mean, they aren't the most glamorous cookies. Oozy chocolate and oats galore are merely a manifestation of their rustic, breakfast-rush-like finish. It's what's on the inside that matters, right?

Anyway, this is my ode to oatmeal, sort of. There will no doubt be more oatmeal-related goodies to come in the future, just to make my clear obsession with the stuff even more so.

Choc Chip, Peanut Butter, Banana, and Oat Cookies

Yields 12 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup flour (I used wholemeal spelt)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 banana, mashed

A large dollop of natural peanut butter, about 35g (only ingredient being peanuts!)

1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp water mixed together and left for a few minutes to thicken)

1 tbsp non-dairy milk

About a third of a block of Green & Black's 85% dark chocolate, roughly chopped, about 30g

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients except the chocolate. In a smaller bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (banana, chia egg, and peanut butter) and mix until well incorporated.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well, then add the milk if needed to loosen the mixture, then add the chocolate. Give a final mix to incorporate. 

Spoon out heaped teaspoons of mixture onto the prepared baking tray and flatten just a touch. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!