Quick Cookies

When I'm in the kitchen these days, I'm all about instant gratification. I'm hungry and busy and impatient. Convenience foods aren't bad in and of themselves. There are certainly plenty of healthy options out there these days, if you're willing to pay a little more. But there's the rub. When you buy them, you're saying that for this meal/snack/week/season, my time is more valuable than my money. Sometimes I'm definitely willing to trade a little more money to buy a little more time. But sometimes I'm just being lazy.

Over the past few weeks, more and more frozen foods have made their way into our shopping cart because frankly, I am too tired to cook. We don't have a lot of time, but to be honest we really shouldn't be spending money quite so freely either with a house and a baby on the near horizon.

So today, I decided to suck it up and bake something. I'd actually gone to swim laps before my night shift nap and the heater at the pool was broken. The water was 73 degrees, which doesn't sound cold until you're fully submerged and your skin is in shock and you're brain is like, "what the heck just happened?!" I made it 23 minutes before I was too cold to keep swimming. Being freezing cold was good incentive to turn on the oven when I got home. It also helped that the dough didn't have raw eggs, so I could snack as I hungrily waited for the cookies to bake!

Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup almond or peanut butter
about 2 cups of rolled oats
1/4 to 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all the ingredients together until well combined. You may need a little less or a little more oats depending on how big and how ripe the bananas are. You're looking for a wet cookie dough texture that's still firm enough to shape with your hands. Divide into 12 scoops, place on a lined or greased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

15 minutes for healthy cookies from start to finish? Sold.