Banana Cookies with Cacao Nibs

As mentioned in my last post, I have been utilizing cacoa nibs  in a number of recipes.  (Please check out Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Cacao Nibs.)

Today, I present Banana Cookies with Cacao Nibs from an old revisited recipe from 2011.

Banana Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting from June 2011

The original recipe for Banana Cookies Brown Butter Frosting can be found here.

As with a lot of my recipes, I often don’t revisit them after they are posted.  There are a few exceptions like spice rubs, canning and preserve recipes, and most definitely my roasted tomato sauce.  You see, I like to experiment with new recipes and so the old ones sometimes are lost in the archives.  The Hubs likes to say, “Mmmm…this is really good.  I guess we’ll never have it again.”

After a weekend of working in the yard, I found two gnarly bananas on our counter that needed to be put out of their misery.  I didn’t want to mess with making and frosting cookies, so I experimented and tweaked the old recipe just a bit.

Banana Cookies with Cacao Nibs

Banana Cookies with Cacao Nibs

3/4 c. butter
3/4 c.  firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 c.  ripe mashed bananas, 2-3 depending on size
1 egg
1/2 t.  pure vanilla extract
1  c.  all-purpose flour
1 c.  whole wheat flour
1/2 t.  baking powder
1/2 t.  baking soda
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/4 t.  salt
1/3 c. cacao nibs
turbinado sugar for sprinkling  (May substitute sparkling sugar.)

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine butter and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add bananas, egg, and vanilla; continue beating until well mixed.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix with a hand whisk.

Reduce speed to low; add dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt). Beat until incorporated.  Add cacao nibs and mix until just combined.

Drop cookies onto a lined baking sheet using a cookie scoop (about 1 ½ tablespoons full)  and place 2 inches apart.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.  Bake for 10-15  minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Fresh from the oven.

These are a cake-like moist cookie and the cacao nibs and turbinado sugar give them texture and a bit of crunch.

Somewhere I recently saw a recipe for something like “Triple Chocolate Cookie Overload” (or something similar) that called for cacao nibs to be added to a chocolate cookie dough.  I really thought it was one of Johnny Iuzzini’s but when I went back through Sugar Rush, I could not find it.  I had initially thought I would make these great sounding cookies instead.

Oh, well.  A new cookie is born in the kitchen of EE.

“Mmmm…these are like a banana bread cookie,” munched The Hubs when I took him a fresh one.   “Guess we’ll never have these again.”