About this Recipe

Bananas are good for you and what a perfect addition to a lunch box for grown ups or the children off to school. Some of the ingredients in this cookie recipe are honey, brown sugar, dark 71%cacao chocolate chips and fresh bananas. This cookie is a softer texture, and with just the right amount of sweetness.

Grandmother's Tips for Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies Recipe:

1. When you make cookies, make them all the same size so they bake evenly. Using a cookie scoop is very helpful.

2. When you add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, to help minimize the flour powder floating up all over, either, shut the mixer off, gently add the flour to the mixing bowl and stir in with a rubber spatula, just a few turns, before you turn the electric beaters on. A second method is to add the flour mixture into the batter in very small increments, with the beaters on low, letting the flour mix in gradually.

3. When we make a new cookie recipe, we often will bake just 2 cookies when the dough is ready. We will do one from the cookie scoop, rounded and the second sample we scoop and then we flatten. We do this to see how the cookie is going to bake up. We want to determine if the cookie is going to spread out or stay in its shape, and what the best baking time is. Recipes generally give you a variable of a few minutes one direction and another. Especially if you are new to baking this little step will allow you to see the results before you bake the whole batch. Even if you have been baking for years, if you are using ingredients that you are not 100% certain of the results, such as using honey or different types of sugars, then to add this extra little bit of time to test how the cookies will come out will mean that when you are baking a full sheet of 20 or more cookies, you will achieve the best result.

4. Cookies freeze well and it keeps them fresh longer.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes 44 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon potato starch (or cornstarch)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature

2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cup raw cane turbinado sugar or brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips, choose at least 70% cacao to get the nutritional benefits from the chocolate

Directions

1. Measure the flour into a small mixing bowl. Add the baking soda, potato starch and salt and stir to combine.

2. Using a stand up electric mixer, beat the butter for 2 minutes.

3. Add the banana pieces, and beat in.

4. Add the brown sugar and honey and mix on medium high for 2 minutes.

5. Add the vanilla and beat in.

6. Shut the mixer off and add the flour into the mixing bowl, stir it in with a spatula then turn the mixer back on and beat on low then medium to combine. By adding the flour mixture this way, there will not be flour powder 'flying' all over the place.

7. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low speed just long enough to combine.

8. Transfer the batter to a smaller bowl, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

10. This recipe makes 44 cookies so you can either line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or do the cookies in two batches which is what we did.

11. Use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to scoop the cookie dough onto the baking sheet.

12. If you want them rounded leave as is, but we wanted our cookies flat so for flattened cookies, you will need to press down on each cookie and flatten it with your fingertips before baking.

13. Place onto the center rack and bake for 9-10 minutes. We baked for 10 minutes, but tested the first batch at 9 minutes. Our oven bakes low and slow. If your oven bakes fast and hot, you may want to check at 8 minutes.

14. Remove and place the baking sheet on a heat proof surface and let the cookies cool down completely before you transfer to the cooling rack. These cookies are pretty soft when hot because of the banana in them.

15. Once cooled, you can place the cookies in a container with a lid or ziploc bags. Keep refrigerated.

ENJOY!

Return to this Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Oven Tips for Baking Here are some things to know when preparing your oven for baking. Set the shelves in the oven. There can be a difference of 25 degrees F. between the bottom and the top inside of the oven. This is of course because heat rises. The center position for baking cookies and cakes should give you the best result for even baking. You always want to be sure there is room for the heat to circulate around baking sheets and cake pans. We generally will only bake one sheet of cookies at a time on the center rack so there is good circulation. You will not necessarily get the same result for a sheet of cookies baking on a lower rack while another sheet of cookies is baking on a middle rack. The varying temperatures from the bottom of the oven which is generally hotter than the middle and top positions may result in the bottoms of your cookies being overdone on the bottom rack. In a recipe like this one, where you know there are going to be baking two sheets of cookies, bake the first one by itself, and then you can bake the second batch. Once you start the timer for your cookies, don't be opening the oven door to peek inside until they have reached at least the minimum baking time called for.

How Long is Baking Soda Good For? 6 months to year is the maximum time you should store baking soda. Baking soda has a purpose in the recipe of making baked goods rise. It is also called sodium bicarbonate. The way it helps food to rise is by releasing carbon dioxide bubbles which expand the batter. If left too long on the shelf, its active properties start to decline. If you are uncertain if your baking soda is still active you can put a spoonful into a glass, add a splash of vinegar. If you see it get nice and fizzy, then it is still good to use for baking. Not much fizz means it is outdated. Many people use baking soda as a cleaner for sinks and drains. You can continue to use your outdated baking soda as a cleaner.