Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups melted butter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, 3/4 pound)
- 1 cup white (granulated) sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup baby food mashed bananas (I used Gerber)
- 5.1 ounce package banana cream pudding mix (NOT sugar-free) (I used Jell-O, 6-serving package.)
- 3 and 1/2 cups flour (no sifting – pack it down in the cup when you measure)
- 1 cup chopped nuts (I used salted peanuts)
- 2 cups peanut butter chips (one 10-ounce package will do just fine)
- 1/2 cup white (granulated) sugar for later
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Melt the butter in large microwave bowl. Stir in the sugars, beaten eggs, baking soda, and salt.
Measure out a half-cup of baby food bananas and add them, along with the package of dry pudding mix. (Make sure your baby food bananas don’t have anything else, like cereal, added to them!)
Mix in the flour by one-cup increments. Add the nuts and then the peanut butter chips. Stir until everything is incorporated.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands. (If it’s too sticky, chill it for 30 minutes or so, and try again.)
Put ½ cup white sugar in a small bowl and roll the balls in it. Place the dough balls on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-sized sheet. Press them down with the heel of your hand, or with a metal spatula sprayed with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees F., or until they’re lightly golden in color. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
These cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, and place the rolls in a freezer bag.