Plantain-coconut cookies

I first started toying with this cookie recipe a few weeks ago, on a cold day in late march. The furnace in my building had been broken for over a week, and a final day in the 20s was enough to render my usually too warm apartment freezing. My roommates and I bundled in our sweaters and blankets, waiting for the oil company man to arrive. We ended up turning on the oven in an effort to warm up the house a bit. I decided at that moment: wouldn't it be better if we were slowly warming up with the oven on, and there were cookies? Yes. Of course. So I went out in search of interesting ingredients to bake into cookies. The following recipe is not exactly what I made that day, the first batch was a bit too cakey, and seemed to be missing something...This is a reworked version, adding honey and nutmeg to my original recipe, and reducing the flour and white sugar drastically, which I baked up yesterday, one of the warmest days so far this spring.

These cookies are sweet but not too sweet. Oats, chocolate chips, plantain, coconut, walnuts and nutmeg come together to create a wholesome cookie that tastes quite a bit like banana bread. These cookies are crispy at the edges and remain very soft inside.

Plantain-coconut cookies:
makes 4 dozen+ small cookies
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (or 1 cup margarine. whipped and lite versions may not work as well)
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 oz chocolate chips
1.5 cup oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe plantains

Note: If you don't have plantains, bananas can be easily substituted. Just reduce the sugar in the recipe, as bananas are naturally sweeter than plantains.

I think golden raisins or dried currents would make an interesting substitution for the chocolate chips in this recipe, and for those who don't like coconut, increase the amount of oats for an easy substitution.

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine the butter, eggs, sugar, plantains (cut into large chunks), vanilla and honey. Mash together until smooth. add whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, oats, and coconut. mix until blended, then add walnuts and chocolate chips.

I created uniformly small cookies using a teaspoon measure for each. I used parchment lined baking sheets to reduce sticking.

Smaller cookies only need 8 or 9 minutes to cook, crispier if allowed to cook for 10 minutes. larger cookies may need 10-12 minutes.