Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

So after asking my upstair "roommates" what they didn't like, both Chlo and Matt claimed they didn't like oatmeal cookies, but really they meant was with raisins. Naturally when searching for the next item to bake I came across a recipe for amazing sounding cookies which of course had oatmeal in it! I decided to risk it and bake them anyway. The upstairs crew enjoyed them very much, they couldn't stop commenting on how soft and chewy they were. I'm new to baking so it took me some time to figure out what that reason was, and i'm still not sure this is the true answer, but my guess is its the Banana. The cookies taste like banana bread meets a chocolate chip cookie. I was delighted and they are quite easy too!

The recipe was taken from www.marthastewart.com.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole what flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flours, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.

Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Mint Bars

Recently I was home visiting family and friends in MN, and I was over at Amy Pedersen's House which jogged my memory from last Christmas when she fed me the most amazing brownies. Of course I had to get the recipe from her and make them. They are sort of a Christmas treat, but who really cares when you want a minty chocolate treat. The recipe is from Amy's grandma Reppe, and was even in the magazine Cooking Light.

I am now paying my upstairs neighbors/friends baked goods for internet service. They were like little crack fiends begging me for these brownies! They really couldn't get enough of them! I'm trying to bake something new every Saturday. This was last weeks creation.

So there are 2 ways you can make these brownies, 1 is the half assed way which is just buying a brownie mix and then making the 2 layers yourself, or you can make the brownies from scratch.

Mint Bars:
First Layer: Brownies
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 pinch of salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
In a large bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract. Mix in the flour, salt and cocoa powder just until moistened. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is dry and the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Let brownies cool.

Second Layer:
2 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons of milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

Combine powdered sugar, melted butter & remaining ingreadients in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth. Smooth mint frosting over cooled brownies.
I placed mine in the fridge for about a half hour before making the frosting.

Third Layer:
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons of butter

Melt on stove top or microwave. Spread chocolate mixture over mint spread.

I would wait maybe 15 minutes to do this last layer, as I did not and it made it a little harder to spread nicely without mixing it with the mint layer.