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๐Ÿ Home ยป Recipes ยป Dessert Recipes

Soft Banana Cookie Recipe

Published: Dec 11, 2023 by Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan ยท 2 Comments

Jump to Recipe
Total Time: 30 minutes mins

Don't throw out your over-ripe bananas! You only need two to make this delicious old-fashioned Banana Cookie Recipe like grandma would use. It takes only 30 minutes, and only a few pantry ingredients are needed!

Ingredients

Bananasโ€”ripe
Butter and egg
Pantryโ€”all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, salt
Spicesโ€”cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
Optionalโ€”chocolate chips, quick oats, chopped walnuts or pecans

plate of banana cookies with nuts.
Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

This easy recipe makes delicious cookies that taste like banana bread. With a soft and chewy texture, they are the perfect cookie 'n milk cookieโ€”done in 30 minutes with these simple step-by-step photo instructions.

Make banana nut or chocolate chip banana cookies with simple options. Or add some quick oats for banana oatmeal cookies.

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐ŸณHow to Make Banana Cookies

two bananas along with flour and cookie ingredients.

A couple of ripe bananas and other things you have. Let the butter and egg rest and come to room temperature before starting. Preheat oven to 350ยฐ conventional, not convection.

butter with sugar and spices on stand mixer.

In a mixing bowl, add one stick (ยฝ cup) of butter at room temperature and 1 cup of sugar. Cream together at high speed for a few minutes with a hand or stand mixer until it becomes fluffy. Add 1 room-temperature egg and whip for a few minutes.

adding baking soda to the bananas.

Mash 2 large bananas to make about 1 cup of mashed banana. Then mix in 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and let sit for a few minutes.

adding flour to the stand mixer.

Mix the banana with the butter. Add 2 cups flour, one pinch of salt, and ยฝ tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I cut back the nutmeg and cloves to ยผ tsp each (personal taste). Optional: Stir in 1 cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips.

spooning dough onto covered cooking tray.

Prep two baking sheets with parchment paper. I like a larger cookie, so I used an ice cream scoop to spoon batter that makes a larger cookie.

baked cookies on a baking tray.

Cook until the edges are turning a bit darker brown. These large cookies took 15 minutes. A smaller cookie might take as little as 12 minutes.

Allow to rest on the tray for 5 minutes after coming out of the oven before moving to a cooling rack.

For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.

banana cookie with a bite out.

Variations

Make banana pecan cookies by adding 1 cup of chopped pecans. Or make a walnut or other nut version.

Make chocolate chip banana cookies by adding 1 cup of semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate chips.

Add other things like raisins or similar dried fruit.

Add a cup of quick-cooking oats to make a version of banana oatmeal cookies.

You may mix and match these additions to your taste. But you may need to back down the nuts some if you add other things.

Related recipes

There are lots of things to do with ripe bananas. Try our favorite Old Fashioned Banana Bread or Banana Cake. Or use your bananas for breakfast to make Oven Baked Banana Pancake or Banana Muffins.

๐ŸŒWhat bananas to use

This recipe needs about one cup of mashed ripe bananas. That is about 2 medium to larger bananas.

We want ripe or โ€œoverripeโ€ bananas. Why? They are sweeter and make the recipe much better than greener bananas.

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐ŸณWhat spices to use

The original recipe had cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It was a little heavy in the last two, and I suggested a range in the recipe for both. I will stay with the low end of the ranges.

โ„๏ธStorage of leftovers

In an airtight container, your leftover cookies will be good at room temperature for about 2 days. Refrigerated for 3 to 4 days and frozen for 3 months.

โ“FAQs

Can I freeze over-ripe bananas?

While over-ripe bananas are great for baking, peel and freeze them until you can bake bread or muffins if you don't have time to use them now.

Freeze them for 3-4 months. They can be frozen whole but peeled, cut into slices, or mashed. I suggest a Zip-Lock bag to get as much air out of the container.

Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

Dessert Recipes

Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.

plate of banana cookies with nuts.

Soft Banana Cookie Recipe

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Don't throw out your over-ripe bananas! You only need two to make this delicious old-fashioned Banana Cookie Recipe like grandma would use. It takes only 30 minutes, and only a few pantry ingredients are needed!
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Servings #/Adjust if desired 24 cookies

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Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric
  • ยฝ cup butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 bananas - ripe
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ยผ-ยฝ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ยผ-ยฝ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ยผ-ยฝ teaspoon cloves
  • 1 cup optional chopped pecans or walnuts -
  • 1 cup optional semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate chip

Instructions
 

  • A couple of ripe bananas and other things you have. Let the butter and egg rest and come to room temperature before starting. Preheat oven to 350ยฐ conventional, not convection.
    two bananas along with flour and cookie ingredients
  • In a mixing bowl, add one stick (ยฝ cup) of butter at room temperature and 1 cup of sugar. Cream together at high speed for a few minutes with a hand or stand mixer until it becomes fluffy.ย Add 1 room-temperature egg and whip for a few minutes.
    butter with sugar and spices on stand mixer
  • Mash 2 large bananas to make about 1 cup of mashed banana. Then mix in 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and let sit for a few minutes.
    adding baking soda to the bananas
  • Mix the banana with the butter. Add 2 cups flour, one pinch of salt, and ยฝ tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I cut back the nutmeg and cloves to ยผ tsp each (personal taste). Optional: Stir in 1 cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips.
    adding flour to the stand mixer
  • Prep two baking sheets with parchment paper. I like a larger cookie, so I used an ice cream scoop to spoon batter that makes a larger cookie.
    spooning dough onto covered cooking tray
  • Cook until the edges are turning a bit darker brown. These large cookies took 15 minutes. A smaller cookie might take as little as 12 minutes. Allow to rest on the tray for 5 minutes after coming out of the oven before moving to a cooling rack.
    baked cookies on a baking tray

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips

  1. Ripe bananas are best in this recipe.
  2. The original recipe had cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It was a little heavy in the last two and I suggested a range in the recipe for both. I will stay with the low end of the ranges.
  3. Good at room temperature for about 2 days. Refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 2-3 months.

Your Own Private Notes

Click here to save your own private notes only you will see. These will print and be saved for your next visit.
Blue ribbon divider used for visual effect.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories : 145 kcal (7%)Carbohydrates : 19 g (6%)Protein : 2 g (4%)Fat : 7 g (11%)Saturated Fat : 3 g (15%)Cholesterol : 10 mg (3%)Sodium : 82 mg (3%)Potassium : 68 mg (2%)Fiber : 1 g (4%)Sugar : 10 g (11%)Vitamin A : 124 IU (2%)Vitamin C : 1 mg (1%)Calcium : 8 mg (1%)Iron : 1 mg (6%)
Serving size is my estimate of a normal sizeโ€”this is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

ยฉ 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

Adapted from a Food.com recipe.

Originally Published December 12, 2013. Updated with expanded discussion and refreshed photos.

Jake with his much loved ball.
Jake with his much loved ball.

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  1. Donna Carlsen says

    June 02, 2019 at 7:17 pm

    on the Ingredients list, EGG is not listed. I intend to make this recipe, because it's unusual and sounds DELISH!

    Reply
    • Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says

      June 08, 2019 at 6:01 pm

      Hi Donna,
      Welcome to the blog. So sorry about the delayed response.
      I fixed the lack of egg in the list as soon as you brought it up but the house was full of company and my note got delayed.
      I suspect it has been like that for years but nobody brought it up.
      Thanks so much for the note and the proofread. Hope the cookies work well for you.
      Dan

DrDan imageHi, I'm DrDan.
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