Kramer and I went to Asbury Park this weekend with the family and we had a fantastic time! It was so good to see everyone and to get out of the city for a while! The beach was beautiful and the weather was a welcome change from the heatwaves we’ve been experiencing here in New York! Kramer and I just relaxed on the beach, walking on the boardwalk and soaking up the sun. I, of course, got a bit sunburned, but no matter how hard I try, it always seems to be inevitable whenever I spend more than an hour or two in the sun. You can see a few photos of us hamming it up for the camera here, here, here, and here. I can’t wait for the next annual Kramer vacation in 2011!
I wanted to bring something a bit different into work aside from the old chocolate fall-backs, so I decided to do a special kind of peanut butter cookie. The cookies themselves are made with not only peanut butter, but oatmeal and banana. The peanut butter holds everything together with its sweet and salty crunchiness (I used crunchy peanut butter – my favorite), the banana offers a welcome compliment to the peanut buttery goodness, and the oats offer a bit of a chewy texture that work really well with the peanut butter-fluff frosting. You heard right! I had some marshmallow fluff sitting in my cupboard from the last time that I made my s’mores bars, and I wanted to do something with it before Kramer and I ate it all up, so on a whim, I threw it into the frosting mixture. I really loved the sticky, marshmallow taste and texture that the fluff added to the frosting; it was just a little something out of the ordinary! The cookies were absolutely perfect altogether, I thought. They are definitely for peanut butter lovers, and the variety of tastes and textures made them a hit both at work and at home. Perhaps the best part about these is that they are small sandwich cookies, so they make lots to bring to an event or into work, and they are already portioned into bite-sized pieces, so you don’t feel as if you’ve eaten too much of a good thing (although it’s hard not to).
Your ingredients.
Combine your flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and sugar.
Mash up your bananas in a small bowl with a fork.
Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined.
Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time, alternating with the banana mixture, until just combined. Don’t over mix!
Add in a bit of the banana mixture, then the flour. You want to start and end with the flour.
Scoop about two teaspoons of dough onto a greased and/or lined baking sheet, and sprinkle with a bit of raw sugar, if you like (it’s completely optional). Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, until golden and still soft.
Allow to cool completely before making into sandwiches.
Beat together the frosting ingredients until you have achieved the consistency that you like.
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup chunky or creamy peanut butter (I prefer to use chunky)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cup rolled old-fashioned oats
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup marshmallow fluff
- ½ cup powdered sugar, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons milk, plus more as needed
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and sugar, until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined.
- Whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add in ½ of the banana mixture and mix until combined. Add in another ⅓ of the flour, then the rest of the banana, then the rest of the flour, until everything is just moistened and combined. You want to start and end with the flour.
- Grease and/or line two baking sheets and drop spoonfuls (about two teaspoons at a time) onto the sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool completely before turning into sandwiches.
- For the frosting, beat together the peanut butter and fluff until combined, then add in the powdered sugar, slowly, a bit at a time, over low speed. Add in the vanilla and then the milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is spreadable. You may need to adjust the powdered sugar and milk ratio until you have it at a good consistency.
- Place a dollop (a teaspoon or two) on one flat side of a small cookie, then smush it together with another cookie, flat side down. Continue to do this until you are out of cookies. Makes 30 sandwiches (about 60 cookies).
Oh my word, I have to make these ! The combo sounds sooo good! I know we will love these. Thank you for sharing. The pictures are so cute, you both are beautiful people ,inside and out .
Tina: Thank you so much! You really know how to brighten my day!
Yuuuummy! Banana + PB = cookies = LOVE. Oh, and: cookie + PB + cookie = sandwich = AWESOME LOVE. This sounds so heavenly. So in love. 😀
Wei-Wei
Wei-Wei: Thank you! I share the same love for peanut butter and bananas!
oh sydney – these look so delicate and delicious!
Pearl Lee: Thank you very much!
You basically took all of my favorite things and put them in a cookie! I have to make these soon!!
Natalie: I hope that you do!
They look delicious nutty nuggety oaty cookies
Katie: They definitely were!
[…] Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches | Crepes of Wrath […]
Oh my. These look DIVINE. : D
MrsDragon: Thank you very much!
These look awesome! i have been wanting to do something with pb, oatmeal, and bananas and really didn’t want to do the same old boring plain cookies. these look really interesting. I will be making them and featuring them on my blog this week!
Allison: Let me know if/when you do!
A friend just turned me on to your blog. Isee I have a lot of recipes to explore, as I catch up on past posts. Your photos are great — really inspiring. Thanks for sharing with us.
Kathleen
Cooking in Mexico: Thank you very much! I’m loving your site, too; I think I’d have to say that my idea of comfort food is definitely Mexican and I miss it like crazy here in New York!
Sydney, the cookies look awesome…love it…lots and lots of peanut butter…yummie! Love the pictures as well
Juliana: Thank you so much!
Those look like a doosie of a cookie on their own. Probably very easy to fall in love with. And held together as a sandwich by icing? That just seals the deal
Dana: My thoughts exactly!
Thanks for stopping by!
Oh, wow, yum!! Thanks for the step by step, too!
Nikki: Of course!
Thanks for stopping by!
wow, great combo!
Pigpigscorner: Thank you!
I just read this recipe and may have swooned a little.
What happens to the filling if you swap in Nutella instead of marshmallow fluff?
Elizabeth W: I think you would have a very tasty frosting on your hands!
[…] that you HAVE to do, so if you don’t have time to refrigerate your dough, may I suggest another peanut butter oatmeal cookie […]