Banana Cookies

Yesterday after I put away all of the items from my Bountiful Basket, I realized that I had 18 bananas sitting in my kitchen. No they didn't all come in the basket, but the day before I had gone to Costco and bought some. Yeah smart move I know, but I hope Im not the only one who goes into a store at times and just starts aimlessly wandering around throwing things in the cart.
ANYWAY, so this morning I decided that I need to think of something I could do with some of these bananas. I didn't want to make more banana bread (cuz I just made some last week) and I didn't want to make a pie...but I was having a sweet tooth. So I started searching online and came across this recipe at simplerecipes.com.
To be honest I had never, ever, thought of making a banana cookie...a banana cookie...really?! So I thought I would give it a try. They turned out really good.
They look like a cookie, but have the consistency of a banana bread or muffin.



1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2 In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.
3 Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.
4 Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

**Randi's Side Notes**
~I thought that if I added the cloves that it would taste more like a spice cake, so I decided to omit that spice. Instead I added 1 tsp. of vanilla, yes I am aware this is a liquid :)
~ I also didn't have any nuts around my house, so I added chocolate chips. I really like them like that, but I think they definitely need a little bit of walnut in there just to give it a little bit of crunch.
~ Like I said before, the cookies are really light and fluffy. More like a muffin top, well not like my muffin top :). I read that if you want it to be more like a cookie, then let them cool completely on the wire rack, and then put them back in the oven.