These soft banana cookies taste just like mini banana breads. Make these banana bread cookies with or without nuts and, for an extra treat, drizzle them with caramel or dulce de leche!
If you love bananas or need a recipe to use up overripe bananas, these cookies are for you!
What Are the Important Ingredients for these Banana Cookies?
Overripe Bananas
It is super important that the bananas in this recipe be not just ripe, but overripe (practically black).
When baking with bananas, like in banana cupcakes or strawberry banana bread, riper is always better. It makes the bananas really sweet. If they aren’t quite ripe, microwave them in 30 second intervals until they are really soft. This will help to bring out the sweetness or, even better, you can use caramelized bananas.
Roasted Hazelnuts
While nuts are totally optional in this recipe, hazelnuts go almost as well with bananas as they do with chocolate.
Roasting hazelnuts first is essential to bringing out their full flavor potential. To roast hazelnuts:
- Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
- If they have skins, turn them out to a kitchen towel. Fold the towel around the nuts and roll the nuts around until the skins come off. (If a few skins stay on, don’t worry about it; they are edible.)
If you don’t like hazelnuts, you can replace them with walnuts.
Dulce de Leche
Dulce de leche is similar to caramel, but made from sweetened milk instead of sugar only. It’s used both in the batter for these cookies and to drizzle over the top of the cookies.
It’s incredibly easy to make, but you can also find cans of it at Mexican grocers.
If you prefer, you can substitute caramel for the dulce de leche.
How to Make Banana Cookies
I adapted this banana cookie recipe from the book Cookies, Cookies, and More Cookies.
To make them, start by whisking together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In another bowl, mix butter, sugar, dulce de leche, vanilla extract, and bananas until light and creamy.
Add the eggs to the butter mixture, one at a time, mixing until fully combined.
Add the dry ingredients a little at a time until just combined.
Mix in the hazelnuts.
Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough two inches apart from each other onto parchment- or Silpat-lined cookie sheets.
Press each cookie to flatten slightly.
Bake for 18-20 minutes. You’ll know the cookies are done when they turn a golden color.
How Long Do Banana Cookies Last?
Keep the banana bread cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 days, in the refrigerator for 1 week, or in the freezer for months.
If You Love Baking with Bananas, You’ll Also Love
Banana Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dulce de leche plus extra for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas mashed (about 1 cup)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 2/3 cups roasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In another medium-sized mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, dulce de leche, vanilla extract, and bananas until light and creamy.
- Add the eggs to the butter mixture, one at a time, mixing until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients a little at a time until just combined.
- Mix in the hazelnuts.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough two inches apart from each other onto parchment- or Silpat-lined cookie sheets.
- Press each cookie to flatten slightly.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden.
- Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Keep the banana bread cookies at room temperature in an air-tight container for 3 days, in the refrigerator for 1 week, or in the freezer for months. Drizzle cooled cookies with dulce de leche just before serving.
Notes
- Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
- If they have skins, turn them out to a kitchen towel. Fold the towel around the nuts and roll the nuts around until the skins come off. (If a few skins stay on, don't worry about it; they are edible.)
Those sound fabulous! I love banana bread, so this cookie variation looks great to me:)