Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of weeks ago I needed to use some very ripe bananas. I was craving chocolate chip banana bread, but wanted to try making something a little different, so I searched the web for cookie recipes. I came across an awesome recipe for banana chocolate chip cookies. They were amazing (and by amazing I mean I'd take these over regular chocolate chip cookies any day of the week) and I've been craving them ever since. They're baking in my oven right now!

Here's the recipe. You can find the original version here.

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 cups of flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon*
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg*
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves*
• 1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)**

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.

Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.

Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

* I used 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's Baking Spices and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg instead of the ingredients listed. They worked well!
** Pecans? Walnuts? Seriously. This should only be chocolate chips.