I think bananas become overripe out of spite. They’re only good for a couple days, and then you have to figure out what to do with them now. I usually freeze them and make banana smoothies, but my blender is on the blink (nothing works in my house!), so I had to find something else to do with my overripe bananas. Banana-Oatmeal Power Cookies showed me the light.

What I especially like about these cookies is you can trick yourself into thinking you’re eating something healthy. In the cookbook, they even suggest you take them on a hike. If that doesn’t imply healthiness, I don’t know what does.

Adjustments: I’ve made them just as the recipe tells me to, and they are delicious that way, but I made some adjustments this time because I didn’t have all the ingredients in my pantry. Instructions to include unsalted butter are flat-out ignored nearly every time. I know it’s fresher and less salty, but lightly salted butter is a permanent fixture in my house, so I generally go with what I have. Coconut got omitted, walnuts became pecans, dried apricots or raisins were dried cranberries. I might prefer that last substitution and permanently replace raisins with cranberries for these cookies and every other food always. Dried cranberries are tart and wonderful. Raisins are sugary and terrible. Everybody knows it.

Assessment: I usually don’t like my cookies chock full of stuff, but I like these. Everyone likes these. They’re sort of like a chewy, more interesting banana bread if banana bread decided to turn itself into a cookie.