Bonn Marathon - April 22, 2012

On Sunday, the Bonn Marathon took place. Every year this is the largest sports event held in the City of Bonn. It was called the "Deutsche Post Marathon Bonn" since it was sponsered by the German postal service. The Bonn marathon event got started in 2001 and, over the years, has gained much in popularity, so much so that it has made it into the top ten of German marathons.

The 42.195 km route always leads along the right and left banks of the Rhine river. The finish line was located at the beautiful Bonn market place.

On Sunday, in addition to the main marathon, there was a half-marathon, a relay competition for schools, a competition for company teams and wheelchair users. Inline skaters and power walkers were also admitted. The focus of this event is always to attract as many participants as possible from all walks of life - to have top athletes and amateurs participate together in the same race.

The organizers counted a total of 12,128 participants from 53 different nations. And about 200,000 spectators lined the streets of the City of Bonn to cheer them on.

So, in order to cheer on the "marathon runners" in my life, I decided to bake some "Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies" (by the way, the organizers distributed about 27,000 bananas to the participants - that is a lot of bananas).











Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies
(as adapted from Martha Stewart "Cookies",  published in 2008 by Clarkson Potter)


Ingredients:

1 cup (140g) AP flour
• 1/2 cup (70 g) whole-wheat flour
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (120 g) superfine sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 g) light-brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg (L), use free range or organic whenever possible

• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 2 tsp. pure vanilla sugar
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
• 1 cup (110 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 8 ounces (230 g) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Lindt Excellence 70 %)
• 1/2 cup (60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)


Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper (unbleached if possible) or silicone mats.

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.

2. Place butter and both sugars into the bowl of your electric mixer, mix on medium until pale and fluffy.

3. With the mixer running on low, add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

4. Mix in the mashed banana.

5. Add the flour mixture, mix until just combined.

6. Then stir in the oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.

7. Using an ice cream scoop, drop dough onto prepared baking sheets.

8. Bake cookies for 12 to 13 minutes and let cool on sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes.

9. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.

Enjoy!

See you there next year on April 14, 2013