Improv Cooking Challenge: Banana Bread Cookies with Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting

.  Karma is a biaaaaatch.  Right?!

If you haven't noticed, I've sat out the last several months of ICC.  Whether it's been for a lack of time or I just plain forgot, I have in no way been a consistent ICC participant.  And guess what happened when I decided to come back?

I BOTCHED!

Fo' reals.

Okay, it wasn't the worst mess up I've ever had.  I mean, I ended up with a finished product.  But it was less than decent.  I won't even use 'good' there.  Let's see, where shall we begin?

The ingredients we were assigned to kick off 2013 were Bananas and Nutmeg.  Easy enough?  Well, you'd think!

Here's what happened.  One, I might have gotten a little over zealous.  I wanted to really twist things up and make this treat a special one.  So I think that may have clouded my judgement a bit.  Oopsies.

Second, I didn't trust my baking instincts!  Who does that anyway?!  I went against my intuition and kept adding in a certain ingredient [ahem, nutmeg] only because the original recipe said to.  FAIL.

So all in all, here's what came of the Banana Bread Cookies with a Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting.  The cookies were good enough.  But nothing crazy.  I think I may have overmixed the batter so the cookies [to me] were a bit tough.  Mistake three.  My favorite thing about them though was the bits of chocolate studded throughout.  The cookies only saving grace.  Oh and hey, my bananas were basically green.  So that didn't help.  Mistake four?

But the thing that took me over the edge was the dang frosting.  The overly nutmeggy frosting.  Ugh, makes me mad just thinking about it.  I knew I should have stopped adding in the nutmeg after, say, the second teaspoon but the recipe I based these off of said to keep going.  So I did...  Never again!  Needless to say, the frosting was one of the least favorite things I've ever made.  I like nutmeg but this was just too much.  Mistake five!

If I hadn't made the countless number of errors these cookies might have stood a chance.  But you live and you learn!  And that's what this challenge is all about, testing out that creativity.  Or at least I'll keep telling myself that.

See you next month, ICCers [...hopepfully]!!  .

My Notes:

• As you can tell, I didn't like the nutmeg cream cheese frosting.  So, I adjusted the ingredient amounts below but I would suggest just using the plain cream cheese frosting.  The banana cookies will really shine through that way, too!

Adapted from Cookies and Cups and Sweet Peas Pensee's

Ingredients:

Banana Cookies:

3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1-1/2 c.)

1 c. light brown sugar

1/4 c. canola oil

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1-1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 c. quick cooking oats

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese

4 tbsp. butter

2 to 2-1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Combine bananas, light brown sugar, canola oil, vanilla extract, and egg in a large bowl.  Beat until combined.  Add in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Beat on low speed just until combined.  Gently stir in oats and chocolate chips.  
3. Drop batter by scant tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden and centers are set.  Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
4. For frosting, beat together cream cheese, butter, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a medium bowl until smooth.  Frost cookies as desired.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies