Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

My kids can go through bananas like crazy for weeks at a time.  I feel like I buy them and only a few days later they are gone, until I buy the bunch that I suddenly find left hanging unwanted, unloved and turning brown on the banana hanger.  But those are the bananas that are actually the ones that are loved the most because those precious little guys are the ones that get turned into banana chocolate chip muffins.  And my boys and my husband go crazy for banana chocolate chip muffins!  

A few weeks ago, I got the idea to make banana chocolate chip cookies but we were in the “I can’t keep bananas in my house for more than three days” phase with my kids and I was forced to wait until those few lone bananas were left on the banana hanger to get brown.  When that finally happened, I decided to experiment with the standard chocolate chip recipe that I use from the back of the Nestle Chocolate Chip bag.  Using the same rationale of substituting applesauce for fat in a recipe, I decided that the bananas could be a substitute for some of the butter in this recipe.  I also decided to cut out a little of the sugar because I knew the bananas would also add their own level of sweetness to the recipe.  The batter was a little stickier than my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe, but if you have a small scoop with a squeeze handle, it was easy to keep the size consistent and to get it on to the pan.  

I use a small scoop for cookies because I like to make cookies that aren't the size of your head.  That way, if I want to have something sweet, I don't have to feel guilty about eating a cookie.  With that in mind, I was able to get 72 cookies.  I would say the cookies were about an inch and a half to two inches in diameter.  About the size of the break and bake mini cookies.  Not that I have ever used them! :) (Funny side note, I always make cookies from scratch, but a few years ago for my son's birthday he asked if he could bring in chocolate chip cookies for his classroom.  I said sure, then came down with a terrible cold, the last thing I wanted to do was bake a batch of cookies.  So I ran to the store, bought the break and bakes, baked them up and took them into his school. Before I could tell him what I did, he starts telling everyone in his class what an awesome baker I am and how these will be the best cookies you have ever had.  I didn't have the heart to tell him what I did.  At one point one of his little classmates came up to me and said, "He's right! You are amazing! These are the best cookies I ever had!" The power of suggestion is an amazing thing!) Anyway, back to these cookies!!

The next area of experimentation was the baking temperature and time.  I turned the oven temperature down to 350 degrees from the 375 degrees that is normally used for my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe. I don't know if that made a huge difference, I was just afraid of over-baking them.  With the batter looking a little stickier I was afraid they might bake faster.  As for the baking time, I experimented with the first couple of trays and finally decided that 10 minutes was a good baking time.  This was a surprise to me as I normally bake my cookies for less then the time recommended in most recipes and allow them to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.  They will continue to bake a little on the pan and I find this makes my cookies nice and chewy when they have completely cooled and not hard and crunchy.  The cookies were not hard, which is very important, because I hate over-baked cookies!  They did stick just a little to the pan, so I needed to use some care in getting them off the cookie sheet, but it wasn't that big of a deal.  

The consistency of these cookies was definitely more muffin-like than my normal chocolate chip cookies which, as I said are usually a more chewy cookie.  If you have had sugar-cake cookies (not just sugar cookies, but sugar-cake, I think it may be a PA Dutch thing) that was the consistency of these cookies.  But this is not a bad thing by any means!! They were very yummy and did not last long at all.  And while I may still experiment with the ratio of butter, eggs and bananas to play around with the consistency a little more to see if I can manage to make a chewier cookie, this recipe is definitely a keeper! 

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together butter and sugar until creamy.  Add vanilla and bananas.  Mix well.  Add eggs.  mix well.  Slowly add flour mixture until incorporated.  Stir in chips.  

Drop by rounded scoops onto pan and bake for about 10 minutes.  Edges should just barely be browned.  Allow to cool on pan for about 5 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.