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Lemon Squares
Dena Kleiman, Susan Mahnke Peery
2029 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
2,029
1 hour
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray two baking sheets with oil. In a mixing bowl, mash banana well. Add oil, sugar and vanilla, and mix with a strong fork. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and mix until just moistened.
Add oatmeal, walnuts and chocolate chips. Using your hands or a sturdy spoon, mix well, making sure oats are well moistened. (If dough is very slippery, add one or two extra tablespoons flour.)
Using clean, wet hands, re-wetting as needed, roll dough into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball, about 1⅓ inches in diameter. Flatten slightly and place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Quarantine Modifications: - No flour -> Use blender to create flour out of oatmeal. Add shredded coconut in a pinch if your dough is too wet; let the dough hydrate in the fridge for 10 minutes. - No walnuts/chips -> Use another unsalted nut, chop up a nut based snack bar (ie, Kind) or something entirely different (ie, pretzels or raisins) - No bananas -> Use applesauce or a peeled, cooked, and mashed potato. - No vanilla/cinnamon -> Leave it out or use a similar spice (ie, marsala, nutmeg)
Very yummy! Used coconut oil instead of canola and only 1/2 cup of sugar. I also chopped up some dark chocolate instead of using chocolate chips and it still turned out great!
Got just 1 old, ripe banana on the counter? Here's the recipe you're looking for. And there's a bonus: it uses only 1 bowl! Delicious and quick.
Jocelyn, it is a tad unfair to call a recipe that you substantially change the ingredients to “overrated”. I have never understood why cooks do this. Changing key ingredients make this YOUR recipe - therefore your recipe is overrated.
Made this recipe this summer, I substituted all the canola oil for applesauce and it was delicious. I don't know what they taste like without the oil, but they were slightly cakey and incredibly yum without it.
Delicious cookies! I made them exactly according to the recipe, and they turned out great -- dense and packed with goodies, texture similar to a soft granola bar. For the second time around, I tried adding one egg to make the texture a bit more like a traditional cookie. It worked, giving me a batch of fluffier, cakier cookies. I liked them both ways! Versatile recipe that you can easily tweak to your liking
These cookies are wonderfully addictive! I used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, 2 bananas, 1/2 cup brown sugar. So delicious!!! Thank for sharing this recipe!
As good as a "healthy" oatmeal cookie can get! I added the walnuts & chocolate chip along with one egg and subbed APF with whole wheat flour (left out the extra 2 tbsp because whole wheat is more absorbent). Didn't have canola oil, so I used 2 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp coconut oil. A super flexible recipe with a nice chewy texture! Also, letting the batter sit for 25 minutes will help it become chewier since the oats get to hydrate somewhat ( tip from pastry chef Stella Parks!).
These have become a quarantine staple in my Seattle household. I've made it 3x in two weeks. Like it best with brown sugar substituted for white (chewier, deeper flavor). It's been a little wee chocolate hug during this bananas pandemic. Recommend.
these are the best thing when ur high hehe
I followed a few changes that were recommended by others and these came out pretty good! I used peanut butter in place of canola oil for a little more flavor, and brown sugar in place of white sugar. The finished results were comparable to the baked oat breakfast bars you can buy in supermarkets, but 10x better tasting. Using parchment paper instead of spraying the pan with oil made cleanup much easier. I also used a cookie scooper instead of rolling with my hands, works way better!
I've made this recipe four times in the past month! Everyone loves it! I have been using gluten-free flour and it works great. You can also substitute raisins for the chocolate chips or use both! Keeps well for several days. This is my breakfast at work several days a week.
The oats tend to suck up a lot of moisture, so hold off on the extra 2 Tbs of flour unless you absolutely need it. Canola oil is a poor substitute for the richness of butter.
What a terrific recipe. Didn't even realize at first there's no egg. Raw dough eaters rejoice! I made this with a quarter cup each white chips, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. Okay, a HEALTHY quarter cup each. And then proclaimed these the Best Cookies Ever.
I made these and the second batch is baking right now. I put half peanut butter half soft butter instead of oil. I used two bananas. Delightful cookie!
One cup of flour, double the cinnamon.
I find the recipe is better with a large banana. Well, in my case 2 large bananas as I ALWAYS double the recipe. Also, I use less sugar.
Vegan or not, these are delicious!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and keep coming back to it! It’s perfect as is, but I wanted to make it even healthier on the last go-around. I replaced half the flour with whole wheat, replaced half the oil with apple sauce and used half the sugar (and used brown sugar for flavor) and it turned out well!
Easy, readily adaptable recipe. No need for room-temp butter or creaming, so quick to come together. I hewed closely to the base recipe, but tweaked the add-ins all over the place. In place of the recipe mix-ins: cubes of roasted fresh pineapple and some white chocolate and butterscotch chips - all meant to evoke something like hummingbird cake. Drizzle of lime glaze, and perfect. Really good straight out of the freezer, too. Love.
Tasty! Vegan baked goods don’t typically interest me. Even so, these are a nice treat. Pecans worked well sub’d in for walnuts, and brown sugar rather than white too.
I subbed refined coconut oil for the canola and soft whole wheat flour for the all-purpose. Less sugar and oatmeal, too. Peanut butter chips plus chocolate bar and walnuts made these perfect
A cookie scoop is a real time saver here!
Oops! I just ate the second batch raw while the first batch is baking. I’ve made these twice. First, exactly following recipe - delicious. Second, substituted brown butter for oil, 2 bananas, skipped cinnamon, sprinkled Maldon sea salt over top before baking - also delicious raw or baked. Next time I’m going to try substituting peanut butter for oil as others recommended.
For Passover, a half batch. Melt 2.5 tbsp melted butter + 2.5 tbsp coconut oil add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 banana. Add 1/8 tsp salt, 1/3 cup matzo meal, 1/4 tsp baking soda and mix. Add 1 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Let’s sit for 20 min to incorporate while oven preheats.
Enjoying these cookies. I used frozen bananas ( a staple in my freezer) and coconut oil rather than canola. I will try maple syrup and peanut butter next time I make these again and again.
Used peanut butter & coco oil instead of canola Added 1TB cocoa instead of cinnamon Light brown sugar only half cup
Great! Easy, fast, one bowl! Use parchment paper ease of clean up. This is a repeater!
These were awful. Dense , hard to bring the dough together and tasted disgusting. Waste of good ingredients. I’ll stick to the chocolate tahini cookies from NYT
Just made these twice within four days because they got devoured so quickly. To me these are the perfect chocolate chip cookies. I made similar easy, successful, adjustments as others. Added coconut flakes, and used coconut oil and pecans instead of canola and walnuts. Super moist and delicious. I'm going to keep trying variations like reducing the cane sugar quantity and different flours.
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