Oatmeal Cookies

I meant to make this cookie in May and time got the best of me with the other projects I decided to take on. I love this oatmeal cookie recipe and got hungry for them after I lit an oatmeal cookie candle I have. I lit it when I had company coming over as it makes the house smell like you've been baking. I felt like I was cheating with the candle, so I wanted to make a batch of these cookies and recreate the real smell! It's simple in that it is purely just oatmeal, but sometimes simple is just better. I grew up with oatmeal cookies loaded with coconut, chocolate chips, raisins and sometimes nuts and while I love those, this is definitely my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe now. They are perfectly crispy on the edges with a soft center. And, since they are dredged in powdered sugar before baking, they come out of the oven with a warm sugary coating and they just melt in your mouth.

The batter is very easy to make and I always use my mini cookie scoop to keep the size of the cookies consistent.

I rolled each cookie scoop into a ball and gave them a nice thick coating of powdered sugar.

They went on Silpat lined baking sheets and I flattened each of them slightly with the back of a spoon.

Here they are fresh out of the oven. Beautiful cracks in the powdered sugar coating as they spread out when they baked and a slightly gooey warm sugar coating.

I made a lot of them so I had plenty to send some home with family that visited and a nice big container for my husband to take to the office.

I think these cookies would be great with maybe a homemade caramel or cinnamon homemade ice cream sandwiched between them. I have some other ideas for fun ice cream sandwiches and plan to make some in the warm summer months to enjoy with the kids.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I've been making banana oatmeal muffins for about a decade now and it's a great way to use ripe bananas. Many people make banana bread, but these are hearty muffins that are a welcome departure from the traditional banana bread. I'll often freeze my ripe bananas in the peel and then thaw them to use in this recipe.

It's a very simple recipe and I don't even break out the kitchenaid to mix up the batter. You mix together your dry ingredients, including flour, sugar and oats. This time I used 1/2 regular flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. You mix in the wet ingredients, including the mashed banana, milk and a little vegetable. oil.

I've noticed many bakeries using just the plain parchment squares for muffin papers. I used my roll of parchment paper and cut it into 5 inch squares to use. A good tip I read was to use a cup to mold them into the muffin tin.

I filled them with the batter about 2/3 full using my small ice cream/cookie scoop and tried not to get any batter on the edges of the parchment. They baked very nicely and the parchment made them look more rustic and homemade.