Donkey Kong Power Cookies

When I was in elementary and middle school, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Game Cube were the cool hi-tech video games in our house.  My little sister and I would play Donkey Kong until our eyes were swirling.  No lie, at one point we actually were hallucinating that we were hearing the Banana Fairy!  Don’t judge.  Sick. I know. Mishy, you know what I’m talking about, girl!! (sigh) The good old days.

Well, our mom raised us a chocoholics.  It’s genetic.  Brownie or chocolate chip cookie crumbs were probably packed under our fingernails and chocolate smeared on our cheeks as we magically imagined ourselves as super-strong gorillas.   Every now and then a banana would find its way into our coco-laden kitchen, one of us would grab it, hold it in the air like it was a light saber and say “Ooooooh! Banana!”.

What?!

I never said we were normal.

I’ve been feeling pretty nostalgic lately, so I whipped up a healthy nod to our Donkey Kong Country days  last night.

These cookies are perfect as a grab & go snack, breakfast, or as dessert. They are loaded with protein and taste awesome. The only added sugar comes from the chocolate chips (which is a trivial amount, and can be omitted if you like…but why would anyone want to omit chocolate?! To each his own, I’m not hating 😉  ).

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Mix together the dry ingredients first in a large bowl.

* 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats  (you may need more if you need to make the dough thicker)

* 3 scoops of  protein powder (I used BSN’s cinnamon roll but any flavor will do)

* scant 1/2 t baking soda

* a dash of cinnamon

Next, add in your wet ingredients.

* 1/3 c skim milk

* 2 egg whites

* 1/4 c canola oil

* 1 t vanilla extract

In a smaller bowl, mash 2 very ripe bananas.  These guys almost got tossed by Mr. FSL because they were “gross”.  I thought they were just perfect 😀  So did my furry friend who was eyeballing them for a week now.

Mash them up and leave them pretty lumpy.  The banana lumps will keep these muffins really moist and chewy.

Fold in the mashed bananas.

Measure out 1/4 cup mini sized semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

I felt like I needed a doughier consistency so I added a little more oats.

Once you’ve reached your dough consistency, coat a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Taste the dough because it’s awesome.  (disclaimer: you shouldn’t eat raw eggs, but I did and I lived to tell about it 😉 )

I used a medium sized cookie scoop and lined them up like little soldiers on the tray.  They don’t really spread much, so they can be pretty close together.

Bake until the edges are golden brown. Mine took about 9 minutes, but keep checking on these guys.

Let them cool.  (Check out my new Valentine’s Day dishes I scored for 50 cents each!!)

Store in an airtight container.  This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.

*******************************************************************************

What food brings back childhood memories for you?  Were you into video games as a kid?  Which ones?  Did you have any hallucinations of banana fairy twinkly sounds?