Banana Chip Chocolate Cookies

Banana Chip Cookie Recipe (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup (toasted) wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup banana chips, loosely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter until lightly and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until it is the consistency of a thick frosting. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next, and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times along the way (important!). Stir in the vanilla. Add the reserved flour mix in two increments, stirring/mixing a bit between each addition (but not too much). By hand, stir in the banana chips, chocolate chips and walnuts - mix just until everything is evenly distributed.

Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 7 - 8 minutes, until barely golden on top and bottom. Resist over baking, they will come out dry and not as tasty. Cool on racks.

Mine made 36 cookies using my handy dandy cookie scoop.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup natural cane sugar or brown sugar, I used 1/2 a cup of each. It also calls for 2 eggs. I used 1/4 cup of mashed banana in place of one egg because I wanted a more banana flavor to the cookie. I've made it without the mashed banana too and it tastes great, but the banana chips do not give the cookie much of a banana flavor in my opinion. I also used pecans because that is what I had on hand.

Lastly, I did something that I've never done before which was flash freeze half the dough in my freezer. I continued measuring out the cookie dough and put the mounds on a cookie sheet and stuck it in my freezer for 30 minutes. I then put all the frozen cookie dough mounds in a freezer bag to bake when needed.

Here are a few of my girls enjoying the cookies.