As a child I remember walking through the kitchen looking for something to snack on. There would always be one or two blackened (ripened) bananas on the counter. Even in my adult life I can’t seem to finish the bananas before one or two start to turn black. Mom would soon turn these ripening bananas into delicious banana bread. Fresh preserves would be opened and a stick of butter would accompany the warm loaf of bread. Banana bread is delicious but what else can be made with ripening bananas.
Utah seems to be a great state for banana bread recipes. People make it often and share with their lucky neighbors. World problems are solved over a slice of freshly made banana bread and a tall glass of cold milk. Perhaps I should send our elected officials some banana bread so they could solve their problems! As wonderful as a warm slice of banana bread may be, I’m a dunking man, so a cookie works best for me.
Live life to its fullest and branch away from the typical banana bread and make a batch of banana chocolate chip cookies. Cookies can be baked off and easily frozen making them a perfect dessert for a sack lunch to school or work. Like banana bread, cookies made with ripened banana’s can help solve our worlds problems.
Cookies are easy to make and have satisfied many sweet tooth attacks. Most cookies are made by using a creaming technique. This method mixes together the fats and sugars. The important concept of creaming these ingredients together is to incorporate air. Incorporated air will expand while the cookie is baking and give it lift. When creaming fats and sugars, be sure to beat them together for a good 3-5 minutes. Once the fats are creamed with the sugars, I like to add the salt, flavors, and leavening agents to the batter. Once the these items are incorporated, add the eggs one at a time.
Eggs are amazing. They are by far the most versatile baking, cooking, boiling, whipping, emulsifying, thickening agent in the kitchen. The eggs provide the emulsifiers to the batter. Emulsifiers allow the fats and water to suspend together. Because of these emulsifying properties, it’s important to add them one at a time. Be careful to mix the egg throughly into the batter before adding additional eggs. Scrape down the bowl and pay close attention to the blending. Once the eggs are added simply add the chocolate chips and the flour.
Gluten is a protein found in flour and helps to hold the dough together. Mixing the flour to long can cause your dough to become tough and chewy. When making cookies, simply blend the flour into the batter until it is incorporated. Once the dough is formed, drop a spoonful of batter onto a prepared baking sheet and bake one cookie. If the cookie spreads to much in the oven, simply add a little flour to the dough and mix it in. If needed bake another cookie to check for spread.
Once the dough is the consistency you want, simply drop the dough a spoonful at a time onto a prepared baking sheet and bake the cookies off. Your oven should be set at 350 degree’s and bake for twelve minutes (more or less). Since every oven is different, cookie baking times may vary and be sure to adjust them as needed. For a complete recipe simply go to my website, www.chefbryanonline.com. Banana chocolate chip cookies are a great way to use up ripened bananas. Be sure to share some with your neighbors and solve some world problems while dunking them in a tall glass of cold milk.
