3-Ingredient Protein Cookies (with optional add-ins)

Yield: 8 cookies or 4 jumbo cookies (recipe doubles easily)

An ideal way to use overripe bananas, these wholesome cookies mix up in a minute or two in a single bowl. A variety of optional add-ins allows them to be customized according to personal preference.

Ingredients

2 large (1 cup) overripe bananas (frozen and thawed is fine*)
1 scoop protein powder, flavor of choice** (Optionally, 3 tablespoons of powdered peanut butter, like PB2, may be used. Add a pinch of salt if your brand is salt-free.)
1 cup old-fashioned or quick oats (Either works—it’s really just a slight difference in texture and boils down to personal preference. Just don’t use instant oats.)
Optional add-ins: pinch or two of kosher or sea salt; raisins, dried cranberries or dried fruit of choice; shredded coconut; sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice; chocolate chips; chopped nuts or seeds

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or lightly grease it).
In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas (peel first!) with a fork until mostly smooth.
Mix in the protein powder until it’s fully combined and not clumpy. Stir in the oats. I like to add a pinch or two of salt and about 1/4 cup of dried fruit. Sometimes I make a smiley face on the top with chocolate chips because whose day doesn’t start off better when they see that on the plate!
Spoon mounds of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. (I use a large ice cream scoop and level it off for 8 evenly sized cookies.)
Use the back of a spoon to shape them into nice circles if you aren’t using an ice cream scoop, and then flatten to desired thickness as the cookies will not spread during baking. Bake for approximately 12 minutes, give or take a few minutes, depending on thickness of cookie and individual oven. (Jumbo cookies take 15-16 minutes in my oven.) The cookies should be just cooked through the middle.
Remove from the oven and cool. Once cool, transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for several days or refrigerate for extended freshness. These cookies freeze well, too.

*If you find yourself with bananas that are too ripe to eat but you don’t have time to bake with them, peel and freeze them in a zip-top bag for future use. Frozen bananas thaw quickly at room temperature, but the process can be expedited by microwaving them in 10-15 second increments until the bananas are thawed just enough to thoroughly mash them with a fork.
**You can use whey or vegan protein powder. Vanilla is a good basic flavor. For these cookies, pumpkin or chai spice is also delicious. Just make sure you have a quality powder with no unwanted extra ingredients. (Bob’s Red Mill and The Healthy Skoop offer good options that I have used often. Also, SaveMart sells a wide variety of protein powders, and I have found the employees there to be very knowledgeable and helpful with suggestions.)