recipe | nutella banana cookies

Two weeks ago, I got the itch to bake something, ANYTHING!  I decided to try out this recipe since I purposely bought two containers of Nutella at Costco to force myself to try recipes which included Nutella.  Seriously, I think I have a sickness!  I also had ripe bananas that was going to waste pretty soon and was craving some oatmeal cookies, so this recipe hit the spot.  I didn't have shortening on hand so I substituted it with butter.  I'm not sure if this caused the cookies to be extra soft, although the recipe did mention that these cookies were a lot softer than regular cookies.  I will definitely be making these again very soon!

PS. I know my cookies looked like poop but I swear they were delicious!  It's evident in the amount that was left in the jar!

Nutella Banana Cookies
by Nikki of Chef in Training

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
2 large ripe bananas (mashed)
1 egg
1 3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Sift flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in shortening.  Beat in mashed ripe bananas and eggs.  Mix in oats.  With a knife, cut or "slice" Nutella into the batter to create swirls and stripes (this is where I mixed a little too much and made it look like poop).  Spoon drops of cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. 

Note:  Nikki's recipe suggests a buttercream frosting but I didn't make it thinking that the cookies alone would be sweet enough.  Give it a try and let me know how it turns out!