These soft Banana Cookies are thick, cakey, and full of warm cinnamon flavor.
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Move on over, banana bread, because we have a new delicious treat to make with overripe bananas: soft banana cookies.
Most definitely inspired by banana bread, these cookies are quicker to make, more portable, and yet still perfect for entertaining a crowd. They're welcome at potlucks, cookie exchanges, birthday parties, and-- of course -- Saturday afternoons at home.
I got the idea for these cookies on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon a few weeks back. With an increasingly ripening stack of bananas in my fruit bowl and not all of the ingredients for banana bread, I started rooting around online for other uses for overripe bananas.
Once I discovered a recipe for chocolate chip banana cookies I dove straight in.
About an hour later, the resulting cookies had great flavor but they over spread on the baking sheet and were unpleasantly chewy. But I still hooked on this whole banana cookie idea.
What if I could make a cookie that tasted like banana bread but had the texture of a classic pumpkin cookie? You know, the type that are thick and cakey and brushed with that finger-licking icing?
After all, at the time of this posting (mid-November), they're all the rage. And I can't stand the thought of going the rest of the year and into the next without my soft cookie fix.
So, off I went. Though I tried different recipe iterations, the one I ultimately landed on was this one -- a recipe adapted from a fantastic banana bread recipe from the Toasty Marshmallow blog.
Adding more flour & seasonings, mixing in part whole wheat flour, lowering the baking temperature, and whipping up a comforting maple frosting where all we needed to make this recipe into a can't-eat-just-one cookie we can enjoy all year.
This cookie recipe is...
- Soft
- Thick
- Tender
- Cakey
- Sweet
- Warmly spiced
This recipe is even a great pick if you're craving banana bread but don't want to wait for the long baking time!
Ingredients:
- Overripe bananas - with as many brown spots on those bananas as you can find. Don't have overripe bananas? See my notes below on how to make them.
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract - pure vanilla extract provides the best flavor
- Large eggs
- All-purpose flour
- White whole wheat flour - offers the whole grain benefits of whole wheat flour without being dense or overly nutty. You can find white whole wheat flour at most major grocery store chains, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon - my preferred cinnamon is Saigon or Vietnamese cinnamon. It has the purest sweet and spicy flavor and is exceptional in these cookies.
- Powdered sugar
- Maple syrup - for best results, I recommend using pure natural maple syrup. Pancake syrup doesn't provide the same flavor as does the natural. To save on syrup costs, look for it at Costco or other wholesale stores.
- Milk - 2% or whole milk are best, but skim milk also works
Substitutions:
This recipe can also be made with classic whole wheat flour (that is, not white whole wheat flour). To do so, use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour.
How to make this banana cookie recipe...
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray or grease with butter.
- In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and granulated sugar until combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixer and beat until smooth.
- Mix half of the banana chunks into the creamy butter mixture.
- Mix in the rest of the banana chunks to the mixture until smooth.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda together with a fork until combined.
- Mix in half of the flour to the butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix in on low speed until no streaks of flour remain.
- Scoop heaping tablespoons of banana cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom, release easily from the pan, and are cooked through.
- Cool the cookies on the tray on cooling racks until cool to the touch.
How to frost the cookies:
- In a mixing bowl whisk together the softened butter and powdered sugar until thick but smooth. (See notes below on this process)
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the maple syrup and cinnamon. Whisk in on medium speed until combined.
- While whisking on medium-low speed, add the milk to the frosting in 1 tablespoon increments until the frosting is light, fluffy, and spreadable.
- Frost each cookie with 1 heaping tablespoon frosting. Enjoy!
Recipe pro-tips:
- Weigh the flour. I say this so often that you'd be fair to call me a fanatic, but weighing the flours for cookie recipes takes the cookies to a whole new level. It creates consistently textured cookies every time. Food scales are only about $10 on Amazon and flour is the only ingredient I recommend you weigh. 🙂
- Don't chill the cookie dough. There's no need to chill the cookie dough on this recipe. So, just start scooping after you've mixed the dough up!
- Notes on the flour and baking time: it may seem that this recipe calls for an excessive amount of flour and an unusually long baking time. Though, compared to classic (non cakey) cookie recipes it does, this cookie recipe calls for a different approach. The bananas in the batter add extra moisture, so we need extra flour to absorb the moisture and keep the cookies from forming a pancake (ask me how I know...). Secondly, since we are baking these cookies at a lower temperature to keep them soft we need to cook them longer for the cookies to cook through. Speaking of which...
- Bake the cookies completely. Since these cookies are cakey in nature, they do not do well with being lightly under baked. Bake the cookies until they are golden brown on the bottom, release easily from the baking sheet, and are cooked through.
- Prepare the parchment paper by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray or greasing with butter. This will help the cookies easily release from the sheets after baking.
- Frosting notes: when you first start mixing the powdered sugar and butter together, it will look crumbly and like there is not enough butter for the sugar. There is enough butter, but it just needs more time to whisk together. Stir down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix on slow speed. Once the mixture comes together, increase the speed to medium and whip the butter and sugar together until light and smooth.
Recipe FAQs:
Sometimes I seems that when I want to bake with bananas is actually the only time I don't have overripe bananas on hand! Thankfully you don't have to wait for your bananas to ripen to make these cookies. Just follow these simple directions to ripen your bananas quickly!
Yes, it is very easy to make either variation of banana cookie with this recipe! To make banana nut cookies, just stir in ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter before scooping. To make chocolate chip banana cookies, just stir 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips into the batter before scooping.
Storage directions:
These cookies keep covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. They also can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for 2-3 months.
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Tools needed to make this recipe
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups & spoons
- Silicone spatula
- Food scale
- Icing spatula (optional)
- Baking sheets (not an affiliate link)
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mats
- Heat resistant turner or spatula
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
More Banana Recipes
- Brown Butter Banana Bread
- Dairy-Free Banana Bread
- Banana Zucchini Bread
- Dairy-Free Banana Muffins
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Banana Muffins
More Cookie Recipes
Banana Bread Cookies with Maple Cinnamon Frosting
Ingredients
Banana Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large overripe bananas peeled and broken into 1-2 inch chunks
- 1 ¾ cup or 210g white whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cup or 180g all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Maple Frosting
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2-4 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray or grease with butter.
- In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixer and beat until smooth and buttery yellow.
- Add half of the banana chunks to the creamy butter mixture. Blend in on low speed until smooth.
- Add the rest of the banana chunks to the mixture. Blend in on low speed until smooth. Note: the mixture may appear to look curdled at this point, but it is not. It's just the appearance of the bananas as they break down. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda together with a fork until combined.
- Add half of the flour to the butter mixture. Mix in on low speed until no streaks of flour remain. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix in on low speed until no streaks of flour remain.
- Scoop heaping tablespoons of banana cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom, release easily from the pan, and are cooked through. Cool the cookies on the tray on cooling racks until cool to the touch.
- While the cookies cool, make the frosting. In a clean mixing bowl with a clean hand mixer or in a clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix together the softened butter and powdered sugar until thick but smooth. At first it will look crumbly and like there is not enough butter for the sugar. There is enough butter, but it just needs more time to whisk together. Stir down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix on slow speed. Once the mixture comes together, increase the speed to medium and whip the butter and sugar together until light and smooth.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the maple syrup and cinnamon. Mix in on medium speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix on medium until the cinnamon is distributed evenly throughout the frosting.
- While mixing on medium-low speed, add the milk to the frosting in 1 tablespoon increments until the frosting is light, fluffy, and spreadable.
- Frost each cookie with 1 heaping tablespoon frosting. Enjoy immediately or let the frosting dry for 30 minutes - 1 hour before serving.
These cookies are amazing and very easy. They are like a wonderful tasting banana bread, if unfrosted and richly amazing with the frosting. They are another great way to use your over ripe bananas. I peel and freeze mine then thaw before using. I used my KitchenAid for the cookie dough and a hand held mixer for the frosting. I do recommend, using both your beater mixing attachments and not the single wisk attachment, when using the hand held mixer. This way the powdered sugar does not go all over. I ended up needing to add all the wet ingredients, from the start, so the sugar didn't continue to puff all over. This is a recipe I will make again and again.Thank You, for sharing.