Cinnamon Chip Banana Cookies

Lately it seems, I buy a bunch of bananas, we eat a couple and then they get too brown for any of us to eat. I like mine still slightly green on the edges. So, that means I've made banana bread, frosted banana bars, and banana muffins alot this summer. I thought it would be nice for a change to make banana cookies so I googled them. I found a lot of different recipes and finally decided to try this one. I also found a frosting recipe from a different recipe blog and combined them together. Sadly, I can't remember the place I found either of them to give credit where credit is due, but I wanted to post them anyway. I took these cookies to work, and by the end of the day the pan was empty so they must of been good. .... and yes I did eat one in the morning before leaving for work. You have to do a quality check on food you share I think. Enjoy with a glass of milk! Yum!!

Cinnamon Chip Banana Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla
2¼ cups mashed very, very ripe bananas (about 3 or 4) I didn't measure mine, I just mashed up the 4 very overripe bananas I had.
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cinnamon chips (I used the Cinnamon Chips from 'The Prepared Pantry' but Hershey's cinnamon chips are good too.)

**Optional additions: instead of cinnamon chips you can use 2 cups raisins or 2 cups chocolate chips and if you like nuts also add 2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (per whole batch)

Brown Sugar Frosting:
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
powdered sugar (start with 1-1/2 cups)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350F.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. Beat in the vanilla.

Combine the baking soda and mashed bananas in a small bowl and let sit for 2 minutes to froth a bit. (the baking soda reacts with the acid in the bananas to give the cookies their lift and rise.)
Mix the bananas into the butter mixture until combined.
Whisk together in another medium bowl, the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt, then add to the banana mixture and mix on low speed just until combined. The batter will be more like a thick cake batter than traditional cookie dough.

Stir in the cinnamon chips (or raisins, or chocolate chips, and/or nuts.)  Use a 1/4-cup scoop or 1/4-cup measure to drop cookies onto a heavy duty baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper. I can fit 6 cookies on my largest cookie-sheet pan.

If the batter gets too gooey to handle, put it in the freezer for a few minutes to stiffen up. Bake cookies until lightly browned around the edges, about 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For frosting, combine brown sugar, milk and butter in saucepan; stir over medium heat until it just reaches a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat; beat in enough powdered sugar to make frosting spreadable (start with about 1-1/2 cups adding more if necessary, but remember, this frosting stiffens a bit when it cools); beat in vanilla. I like to put my frosting in a decorator bag and drizzle over the cookies, or you can just spread it over the cookies as well. As this frosting cools, it will become stiffer, if this happens, reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds, or add a bit more milk to thin it. I like to frost the cookies while the frosting  and the cookies - are still just a bit warm, so that it drizzles over the cookie and coats it nicely.

Store in an airtight container or freeze. I think they taste even better the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to mellow and mingle.
Enjoy!!