Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies

They say that Elvis used to make himself sandwiches with peanut butter and banana...I think the King had a good thing going. I don't know what it is about the combination that is so appealing but it's definitely an indulgent treat to have once in a while. I have made myself the King's famous sandwich before and I have to admit it tasted really good. In fact I remember I used to eat that sandwich on a daily basis during my economics course that I took two summers ago. I have also employed the combination in ice cream and more recently a batch of granola.

A couple of days ago my friend and I were involved in an activity at a local elementary school and afterward she came over to my house for some good old-fashioned fun: baking. Since she has decided to give up chocolate for Lent these cookies seemed like the perfect thing to make (I know that the picture above is deceiving because there are chocolate chips, but we only added them to half the cookies).

Although these cookies taste great, even better the next day, they posed some challenges when we were making them. The peanut butter dough was extremely sticky and the fact that we were using natural peanut butter only made the problem worse. Also, we couldn't use my oven and had to resort to the toaster oven which made the bottoms slightly burnt. After these initial difficulties I wasn't planning on posting the recipe but once I tasted them the second time (the next day) I changed my mind. Even though they are in the shape of cookies I think the texture was more reminiscent of a dense cake or even banana loaf flavored with peanut butter. In addition, my brothers both loved the cookies a lot so I decided to blog about them after all.

Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies
Note: Makes about 15 cookies.

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• Optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl mix together the bananas, peanut butter, and sugars.
2. Add the baking powder and salt.
3. Mix in the flour in 3/4 cup increments until evenly incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips if using.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and flatten the top of each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 11-13 minutes. (Note: The cookies may need to bake a little longer, depending on the size, just make sure to watch for burnt bottoms)