April's Cookie of the Month: Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I live with a monkey. This monkey eats a banana about once a day. But when this monkey goes grocery shopping, he buys WAY more bananas than he can finish before they get too ripe. When they get too ripe we throw them in the freezer with the idea that we'll make banana bread out of them some day. But I kinda don't like banana bread, so it doesn't get made. Meanwhile, our freezer fills with frozen bananas. These cookies are the solution.

Granted, the recipe only calls for one banana, and I probably have a dozen in my freezer. But these cookies are so awesome that I would happily make them eleven more times. They are not extremely banana-y. They are not heavy at all. My independent taste tester didn't even notice they contained oats. They're light and chocolaty with a hint of banana goodness.

You may recall that I've had an ongoing battle with excessively spreading cookies. I had no problem with that this time even though I used an insulated baking sheet for half of them (I put it on the bottom rack in the oven, as the book suggests). They turned out relatively thick and chunky which met with the approval of my independent taste tester.

My version of the recipe is the simplified for new moms version. Same ingredients. More reliant on the standing mixer than stirring stuff by hand. Great results nonetheless.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies adapted from The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book: From Chocolate Melties to Whoopie Pies, Chocolate Biscotti to Black and Whites, with Dozens of Chocolate Chip Cookies and Hundreds More by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

Ingredients

• 2 C all-purpose flour
  
• 1 t baking soda
  
• 1/2 t salt
  
• 1/2 C rolled oats (not quick oats)
  
• 8 T (1 stick) cool, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  
• 1/4 C solid vegetable shortening
  
• 1 C granulated sugar
  
• 1/2 C packed light brown sugar
  
• 1 medium, very ripe banana, mashed (about 1/2 C)
  
• 1 T vanilla extract
  
• 3 C bittersweet chocolate chips
  

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together, then mix in the rolled oats until uniform, set aside.

2. Beat the butter and shortening in a large bowl using an electric mixer at medium speed until softened and of a uniform color, about 1 minute. Beat in both sugars until fluffy but still a little grainy, about 1 minute. Beat in the mashed banana and vanilla.

3. Mix in the prepared flour mixture on low speed just until a soft wet dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips just until evenly distributed.

4. Drop high, rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet, spacing the mounds about 1 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake for 6 minutes then rotate the baking sheets and bake for 6 more minutes until bumpy and lightly browned. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cool the baking sheet for 5 minutes before making additional batches.

Previous Cookies of the Month:
January's Cookie of the Month: Soft Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
February's Cookie of the Month: Chocolate Cream Sandwich Cookies
March's Cookie of the Month: Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

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