This cookie is the spawn of a cozy, comforting banana bread and a chewy, chunky chocolate chip cookie. So basically, utter perfection.
It’s also a great snow day cookie, and we sure have been seeing a lot of those. With another nor’easter on the way this week, all anyone is talking about is the weather. Everyone has hat head, is scowling and is wearing long underwear and snow boots at all times. Today I overheard someone on the phone complaining that she heard we were getting six feet of snow. Granted, I think she probably got the unit wrong, but I can appreciate the sentiment- enough is enough. A warm banana chocolate cookie hot from the oven is what we all need right now.
It’s difficult to overstate how absolutely awesome these are, because they’re everything you love in a cookie. Warm banana is the smell and taste of pure comfort. Toasted walnuts add just the right crunch. Pockets of chocolate chunks…who doesn’t want chocolate chunks in everything they eat. Whole wheat flour and oats provide a bit of sturdiness to offset the soft banana. It’s the whole package, the gold medalist (a little Olympic spirit for you there).
A word about bananas. I used to have a problem where every so often I would have a strong hankering for banana bread. But the issue always was that you really need overripe bananas, the really ugly speckled guys, to make it. And you just can’t count on having those rotting away in your fruit bowl when the craving calls. So I have taken to stockpiling old bananas. I eat one every morning on my cereal and inevitably at the end of the week there’s one loner I didn’t get to that’s on its way out. Into the freezer it goes. I would estimate that right now I have about 6 in there. Anyone who has seen the size of my kitchen can vouch for the fact that 6 bananas is about 25% of my scarce freezer space. So this must be a worthwhile idea.
This recipe hails from Martha Stewart’s aptly titled book Cookies. I would conservatively estimate that 95% of the recipes I have made from this book have been astoundingly good, and this is no exception.
So throw on the snowboots that have probably just given up on ever making it further into your house than the mat inside your front door and go get some bananas. I bet that by Thursday they’ll be nice and brown, just in time for the next snowstorm.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
- Put butter and both sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture, mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.
- Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers are room temperature up to 2 days.
Notes
From Cookies
February 11, 2014 at 1:59 pm
I adore cookies!
February 12, 2014 at 1:22 am
Would like to try these, but the only paddle I have is associated with a canoe. Is there an alternative method or need I consider upgrading my culinary paraphernalia?
February 12, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Do you have a hand-held mixer with regular beater attachments or just hands? Either way, I think as long as you get the sugar and butter creamed properly (takes a vigorous beating) your cookies will be delicious!