Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I adapted this from a recipe I found at www.recipezaar.com, which is a site with a great "recipe sifter" engine, although the quality of the recipes varies a lot. I've changed this one a lot though - for instance, it wasn't muffins before, it was a flat bake. I suppose they are technically not muffins now, since they don't have any flour in them, and don't rise up much, but they're muffin-like. Anyway, they are a yummy breakfast, and are easy, quick, and reasonably nutritious - a big hit around here.

You can make these with over-ripe bananas, and what I do is toss any bananas that are getting brown into the freezer, where they hang around until I thaw them for banana bread, or these tasty muffins, etc. They turn dark brown, but they taste just fine.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 or 2 mashed bananas
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Spray a 12-muffin tin with cooking spray, or grease
3. Mix together oil, brown sugar, beaten egg, vanilla, with a fork
4. Mash in bananas - lumps are not a problem
5. Add oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and milk, and mix well
6. Pour into prepared pan
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until they are pulling away from the sides of the tins.
8. Munch on a couple for breakfast, perhaps with a piece of cheese or two. Leftovers, if you have any, should freeze well (am testing this theory with today's leftovers).

I'm thinking about trying these with chopped apples instead of bananas next time. The original recipe had raisins. I bet you could use any kind of fruit, really, but just watch the cooking time, as it may vary a bit depending on the moisture content.

Grandmother's Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Now, this one just came from a book - the Good Housekeeping favourite cookies book. But it is good, and Jess wanted the recipe, so I'm hoisting it up here. Must be the Scot in me, but I really don't think you can go wrong with oatmeal cookies.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
• 3/4 cup dark seedless raisins or chopped pitted prunes

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt
2. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and granulated and brown sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until blended. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture just until blended. With wooden spoon, stir in oats and raisins.
3. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 2 inches apart, on two ungreased large cookie sheets. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes, rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. With wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completley.
4. Repeat with remaining dough.