Banana Spice Cookies

Adapted from: Taste of Home Magazine - Best of Cookies and Bars
Made by: Cathy

I was able to get my hands on a bunch of very ripe bananas. They were from work, so the right thing to do was to bring something to work using those bananas.

I received the Taste of Home cooking magazine as part of my holiday gift from my gift exchange. One of the recipes used bananas. It looked pretty interesting, so I tried it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar. Add eggs and bananas; mix well.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cloves; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Cover and refrigerate until dough is easier to handle (dough will be very soft).
3. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 3 dozen.

I didn't refrigerate my dough. I think I missed that part somehow. I used a medium cookie scoop to make even sized cookies. The size is a bit bigger than a tablespoon. I was still able to get 42 cookies with the scoop. I also ended up baking for around 14 minutes instead of the 8-10 minutes the recipe actually called for.

I wasn't too crazy about the flavor. The recipe said spice cookies, but I didn't really taste any spice. It was more like a banana bread in cookie form.

I brought this to work, and apparently, they love it. I don't know if I will try it again. If I do, I will definitely add more flavor to it.