Banana-Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies

Making thumbprint cookies provides good old-fashioned fun. Kids love doing this one and adults will feel like kids as they make them. This cookie recipe is as wholesome as it gets. For the filling, we simply use any jam or jelly we have in the fridge—of course, unsweetened is my recommendation. Try apricot, blueberry, apple butter, strawberry, orange marmalade, or whatever you have around.

INGREDIENTS:

MAKES ABOUT 18

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 2/3 cup raw pecans

• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• Heaping1/2 teaspoon salt

• 11/2cups mashed ripe bananas (from about 4 medium bananas)

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, gently melted over low heat

• 1/3 cup unsweetened jam or jelly

DIRECTIONS:

1 Arrange racks in the middle and upper third of the oven and preheat it to 350°. Grease 2 large baking sheets, or line them with parchment paper.

2 In a blender, coarsely grind the rolled oats and transfer them to a medium bowl. Coarsely grind the pecans, but avoid over-blending, or you’ll end up with pecan butter. Transfer to the bowl with the oats. Add the shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt to the oats and pecans; mix well.

3 In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas with the vanilla and warm coconut oil or butter, and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well to combine.

4 Using a soup spoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough about 1 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheets. This dough is sticky, so you might want to use two spoons to handle it.

5 Create a sizable indentation with your thumb in each cookie, but not all the way to the bottom of the dough. Spoon a bit of jam into each hole, allowing it to spill over the top a bit.

6 Bake the cookies until they start to brown on the bottom, about 25 minutes, rotating the pans in the oven halfway through. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool before serving.

Note:

These cookies make for a fun kids’ activity even for a small group (like a birthday party). Older kids can take on the whole recipe or you can prepare the cookies in advance (minus the filling) for the younger children and have the kids fill them in creative ways.

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