Sunday, March 13, 2011

Bananas about Cookies


It's a hit again. So far the score is 4-1, hits verus misses wise. I'm glad my copy of Martha Stewart's Cookies worked its charm with this banana walnut chocolate chip cookies. Other than using over-riped bananas solely for banana breads/cakes, there is a new option for me now.  


There is something about this cookie. It isn't quite the usual cookie that one would expect. Most of the time, I'm expecting cookies to be either chewy, crunchy, sandy, crumbly or perhaps sometimes cakey. This cookie doesn't fit the bill and it is more like soft and moist bite-sized banana bread/muffin.

My younger brother isn't used to this kind of texture but Stephanie says its good, tasting like cookies from Pepperidge. For me, I would give the thumbs up! Glad I discovered a different kind of cookie.

I will be submitting this entry to this month's Aspiring Bakers # 5 - Fruity March.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies)
Serving size: 36 - 40 cookies
Taste and texture: Mini, moist banana bread-like cookies with a oaty-nutty taste.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Flour sieve
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Fork
8) Baking trays/ cookie sheets
9) Baking / parchment paper

Ingredients:
240g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
160g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
75g castor sugar
75g brown sugar
50g whole egg, lightly beatened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
160g mashed, very ripe/over-riped bananas
85g rolled oats
175g chocolate chips or coarsely chopped semiweet chocolate
75g chopped walnuts, toasted

Making the Cookies:
Preheat oven - Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.

Toasting the walnuts - Toast walnuts at 190 degrees C for about 10 minutes to bring out its fragrance. Set walnuts aside to cool.

Mix dry ingredients - Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Stir with a balloon whisk to distribute them evenly.

Cream butter - Beat the butter with both sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes until butter mixture is fluffy. Volume of butter-sugar mixture should increase noticeably.

Making the cookie dough - Add in beaten egg and vanilla to creamed butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Next, stir in flour mixture and beat on low speed briefly until flour disappears. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl well with a spatula.

Mash bananas using a fork. Fold in the mashed bananas to the flour-butter batter and mix well. Lastly, mix in the oats, chocolate chips and chopped walnuts with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Baking the cookies - Place heaped tablespoons of dough onto baking trays lined with baking/parchment paper, leaving some space (about 1.5 inch) between each cookie and bake for 12-13 minutes at 190 degrees C. Allow cookies to cool for about 3-5 minutes on tray before transferring to wire rack. When cookies have cooled completely, store them in air-tight containers.

Notes:
1) For a nuttier aroma, substitute 80g of plain flour with whole wheat flour.
2) Cookies are meant to be muffin/bread like. If baked slightly longer, the cookies will just turn out dry and would not be crunchy.

14 comments:

  1. That's quite special...banana in cookie! Looks good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've done it again! Another awesome cookie from you :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yummy!! Definitely thumbs up!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow, so interesting! Sounds so yummy! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. this is so creative! i've never considered the usage of bananas in a cookie before :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bananas certainly make these cookies different. Very interesting idea!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Never tried cookies with bananas - these look interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I saw these cookies, I had to say something. Actually, this type of soft, cakey cookies are common in America. I've had carrot, pumpkin, squash, zucchini cookies. The pumpkin cookies I once tried at the soup kitchen I volunteered at back there, had the same texture you describe here. And Americans love theirs with a good smear of frosting, but I find that cloyingly sweet. I think it's not weird, because after all, the word "cookie" came from the Dutch word "koekje," which means little cake.

    Over two years back then, I tried a banana cookie recipe, which yielded crisp cookies, as opposed to American ones. It was from a HK Web site. I'll give it to you here once I manage to retrieve it, if you keen on trying. These are the crisp ones:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3196643593/in/set-72157612526791181/

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is like my favorite muffin made into a cookie! Am bookmarking this to make very soon since I've some bananas ripening soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I saw this recipe and I wondered how the cookies will turn out. Like you said, it's a totally different taste! I wondered how the banana can make the cookies crispy. Now I know. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll let this pass...for now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. hey Wendy,

    I think its a great idea. but i think not everyone will like the texture though.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hey Eelin, Stephanie, Cathy and Jess

    thanks alot!

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hey Jean,

    I think its common in america, but lesser unknown over here in asia. The results are good, but not everyone will appreciate the texture.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Hey Judy,

    Indeed, bananas bring a whole new dimension to these cookies

    ReplyDelete
  12. hey chris,

    banana cookies are not as common here. gives a nice aroma to cookies.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hey pei-lin,

    yeah I agree man. I'm gonna make carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting if I have the time. These cookies you have mentioned kind of reminds me of whoopie pies. I had pumpkin whoopie pies and it tastes great!

    a crisp banana cookie would be interesting. I wonder if the flavour is as pronounced as bread-like banana cookies.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hey janine,

    look forward to your cookies =]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    hey jane,

    I wasn't used to the texture. But the taste is good. so I don't really mind a bit. I think taste matters more than texture to me when it comes to cookies...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Here's the link:

    http://intranet.waterworld.com.hk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=310253

    Apparently, the instructions are pretty bad. Because I did a LONG time ago, I don't quite remember how I tweaked it. *LOL*

    ReplyDelete

Dear readers, thanks for visiting my humble little blog. Feel free to leave a message so that I can learn and be a better baker. Its a great feeling to share our culinary experience and adventures in the kitchen.

Thank you and have a nice day! Cheers =]

Related Posts with Thumbnails