One thing you shouldn’t expect from this column is a scientific breakdown of exactly how a collection of ingredients becomes actual food. Sure, I get the importance of gluten and baking powder in something like a biscuit recipe, but there are recipes out there that cause me to question if I should have paid better attention in John Gamble’s chemistry class at Rock Springs High School (there is no question about it – I should have paid better attention.)

Magic Oatmeal Cookies

Baking is chemistry with delicious results. Baking can also feel like a form of magic, and magic is what we’re getting with this week’s recipe. These magic oatmeal cookies come via Wyoming-based social media star and cookbook author B. Dylan Hollis. The magic here is the fact you only need two ingredients, neither of which being flour nor sugar. Hollis finds old baking recipes and runs through them in his TikTok videos. Admittedly, Hollis’ shtick isn’t for everyone, but I came away with a newfound curiosity as to why suspending anything and everything edible in aspic was, at one point, considered a good culinary decision.

I wouldn’t say these cookies go well with milk – the traditional cookie’s partner in crime. However, it is one of the healthier cookies you’ll eat and honestly makes a great on-the-go breakfast. After all, who doesn’t want a couple of cookies for breakfast?

What you’ll need:

• 1 large, browning banana OR 1/2 cup of apple sauce
• 1 cup of quick oats

Yes, that’s all you need.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Peel the banana and place it into a bowl, then mash it with a fork. If using the apple sauce, just dump it into the bowl. Add the quick oats and combine. Scoop onto a lined or greased baking tray, then gently press each of the scoops. Bake for about 15 minutes.

I have played with adding things to the base recipe such as a quarter cup of chopped dark chocolate or a small handful of raisins. Some of the cookies seen above use a mixture of raisins and dried cranberries. You may need to adjust your baking time to ensure the chocolate melts properly. When I used bits of dark chocolate, it didn’t melt fully after 15 minutes.