I bought bananas the other day. (I know, I know… it’s for just this sort of hard-hitting news that you are reading this column, yes?)

Anyway, I bought bananas. I have a tendency not to, although my family is as near-to-perfect when it comes to banana consumption as it is possible for five people to be.

Zack and Zayley will only eat bananas when they are green. (Why? How can they stomach all that teeth-squeaking? I’ll never understand it.)

I like them only when they are just ripe – the peel should be solidly yellow, not a spot in sight. But if I miss that 17-minute window of unspotted banana bliss, that’s ok… Julia and Pfeiffer prefer them with a few speckles.

So you’d think I’d buy bananas all the time. But the truth is, we forget to eat them. They turn a little too speckled for eating fresh, and I imagine I’ll make banana pudding with them.

A few days pass, and they become too brown for banana pudding. I tell myself I’ll slice them up, toss them in the freezer, and make smoothies out of them. But then they get totally brown, and I know it’s time for banana bread.

Except banana bread takes time, and besides, the recipe I usually make creates a ton of banana bread. So then the bananas sit on the counter a few more days, until Zack grows exasperated and tosses them out, no doubt rethinking all his life choices as he does so.

And so… I don’t often buy bananas. Mostly because of these attachment issues.

This time, I almost outsmarted myself. I went ahead and purchased vanilla wafers and a tub of Cool Whip when I bought the bananas, knowing I’d have what I needed to make banana pudding when I inevitably let the bananas get too ripe.

(Is my diabetic self supposed to be eating pudding? Well, no. No, I am not. But why are you asking so many questions? I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.)

Anyway, we managed to scarf down the box of vanilla wafers in a matter of days. The Cool Whip made a great topping for brownies warm out of the oven.

And the bananas? Well. They got spotty. And then they turned brown. But this time I tried something new. Instead of my usual banana bread, I tried this recipe for banana oat snack cake.

I ran across this recipe a few days ago on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I haven’t made a lot of recipes from the site, but the ones I have tried have been unqualified keepers.

I loved the idea of making a cake with only half a cup of sugar in the whole pan, and the idea of using old-fashioned oats made me feel… well, if not downright noble, then at least somewhat healthier. (Ok, fine. I felt noble.)

The original recipe called for a streusel topping. I didn’t make that, though I am sure it is delicious, because it felt too much like making an entire second recipe. I’m not about that life. But maybe you are, so I’ll give the directions below.

BANANA OAT SNACKING CAKE

Ingredients
For the cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened (mine was actually melted because I only had frozen butter and the situation was desperate)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup overripe bananas (I used 4 small bananas, and I suspect it was more than 1 cup’s worth)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (measure with your heart)
1 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

For topping (optional; I omitted):
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Chocolate chips, to taste

Directions
■ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8-by-8-inch or 9-by-9-inch square baking dish. Grease the pan.
■ Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (or, if you have melted butter like I did, until it is ugly and dark). Add mashed bananas (or, if you are lazy like I am, peel them and dump them directly into the bowl and then mix it all together).
■ Add eggs and vanilla and mix. It may look ugly and separated. Don’t panic. It’ll taste fine.
■ Add all dry ingredients to the mixture (oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda) and mix by hand only until a few streaks of flour remain. Add chocolate chips and mix by hand again until incorporated. (I highly recommend always mixing dry and wet ingredients by hand for a cake batter. It’s the only way I can consistently avoid overmixing them.)
■ Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out. If you are doing the streusel topping, mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle evenly over batter.
■ Place pan into preheated oven and bake 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Allow to cool, unless you are really hungry, in which case you should just dig in and try not to burn your mouth.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.