Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since I've had some very ripe bananas to contend with.  After considering a few recipes I remembered one particular cookie recipe that I would often make for my kids while they were still quite young.

This recipe comes from a little booklet I received in Home Economics class so many years ago.  It’s been some time since I’ve made them therefore had to reach into my recipe archives to locate the booklet.

You might think you're eating banana cake when you try these for the first time as they are soft and moist and have a very rich banana flavour.

Although the booklet is a little tattered from all the wear and tear... literally, I was so happy to see it again as it brought back many memories of my school years as well as my children’s. There it was, printed on the last page, the recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Whenever I baked these cookies they never made it into a cookie jar or container but remained on the cooling rack until every last one of them was gone. The batch made more than enough for the day's after school snacks and before bedtime treats with a few disappearing from the rack in between.

I never bothered to ask who the culprit might be and imagine they think they got away with it.

Although these are classified as drop cookies and easily formed by dropping spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet I've always used a pastry bag and large plain tip to make them more uniform in size and shape.  A pastry bag is definitely not a must since they will taste just as delicious no matter what size or shape they are made in.

After removing them from the oven and placing on the cooling rack today, I realized that they were not to be after school snacks nor before bed time treats and not one would go suspiciously missing so I went looking for a container to place them in.

Think I'll take some to the grand kids!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed, ripe banana
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a medium size bowl beat together sugar, shortening, eggs and vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.
5. Stir in banana and chocolate chips.
6. Drop dough with tablespoon onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheets.
7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until they are set and lightly golden.  Do not over bake.
8. Cool cookies on rack.
9. Makes about 5 dozen 2 inch cookies.

 






Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• If you decide to use pastry bag and large plain tip to form cookies use mini chocolate chips as the large ones tend to get stuck in the pastry bag tip.
• Make sure bananas are very ripe.
• Freeze any extra as they are at their best on the day they are made.