Sheila, that's an interesting question: oatmeal cookies first made it into the mainstream in the late 1800s; the first "modern" oatmeal cookie recipe can be found in the 1896 Fannie Farmer (Boston Cooking School) cookbook. Bananas, as mentioned, became available sporadically around the country in the 1870s. So I'd suspect banana oatmeal cookies probably were born in the early 1900s — which means they would have been around for your grandma, given she was married in the 1930s. How's that for some off-the-cuff sleuthing? :) PJH

• Reply