Banana Oatmeal Cookies

On this fine snowy day we made some rather YUM cookies! We haven't been all that good at our banana consumption lately and I needed something other than banana bread to make with those almost black bananas. The aroma from these cookies now fills the house...and I want it to stay. I'll keep this recipe in my *favorites* stack...the cookies weren't dry and had a great texture. And most of all the kids love them!



What you need:


3/4 cup shortening (I use butter flavor)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together shortening and brown sugar. Beat in egg and mashed banana, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves; stir into the banana mixture. Mix in rolled oats and walnuts. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Leave room for spreading.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Lisa changes: I added more banana, cut the sugar, and omitted the chopped walnuts.
I might add golden raisins next time.