Dirty Bananas

Having extremely ripe bananas, to the point where they are no longer brown, but blackening, so old that they no longer have their usual texture but are slimy and stick to the peel, I decided to channel my inner Martha Stewart (I usually don't make any of her recipes) and make a couple banana recipes to save waste and be resourceful.  The first was a banana walnut chocolate-chip cookie, which spread out way too much when it was baked.  It had a really cake-like texture, and the taste was pretty bland.  My conclusion: they were shmehh, but I would probably never make again.  Not very proud to take them to work/share.  The second recipe was a banana cupcake, which was supposed to have honey-cinnamon frosting, but unfortunately I delayed the frosting process, and never got around to making it.  So they remained plain banana muffins more-or-less.  In a smell test, these proved to have a stronger banana scent than the cookies.  And they had a nice texture, a good interior, which a slightly crunchier top.  I would probably try making this again with the addition of the frosting.  Until next time I let my bananas get to their worst...

Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flours, salt, and baking soda ina small bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks, and walnuts.

2. Using a 11/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.

(my pictures are definitely not as clear as they used to be)
Banana cupcakes, sans frosting
from Martha Stewart
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.