My Family’s Famous Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 1, 2021
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Soft, sweet and the perfect afternoon treat! Try my family’s recipe for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie, and use up those bananas you have laying around! What could be better?

OUR FAVORITE SCHOOL TRADITION

One of my favorite traditions from my childhood was my mom making cookies on the first day of school. Without fail she did this for us – even when we were in college – and I’m going to do my best to carry on this tradition with my own kiddos. It’s simple, sweet, and easy enough to pull off, so hopefully, my kids will look forward to it as much as I did!

MY FAVORITE COOKIE RECIPE

For Ollie’s first day of first grade, I made our family’s famous Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. My grandma has made this recipe for as long as I can remember, therefore if I had to pick a family signature cookie this would have to be it. The texture is soft and chewy and it’s the perfect balance of chocolate banana-y flavor.

ONE OF MY BEST COOKIE TIPS

There are a couple of tips I swear by when it comes to making great cookies: First of all, I love a cookie scoop because it’s the best way to get uniform shaped cookies that bake evenly. For me, this tool is a must in my kitchen. Once I’ve portioned my cookie dough I like to pop my cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 5 minutes while my oven preheats since the cold dough will also help the cookies hold their shape. Finally, I love using a cookie spatula to move my cookies from the sheet tray to my cooling rack. Of course, I can’t wrap up a cookie post without mentioning my favorite cookie sheets!

What about you guys? Do you have any family food traditions that you grew up with that you are now doing for your own family? Let me know in the comments!

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Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Author: Kelsey Nixon
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 24 cookies 1x
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Description

These are my family’s famous Banana Chocolate Chip cookies. My grandma has made these for as long as I can remember and if I had to pick a family signature cookie…it would have to be these. Soft, chewy, and utterly delicious!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup shortening
  • 2 overripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ¾ cups rolled oats
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips (~half a 12 oz. bag)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Mix in the bananas and egg and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the vanilla.
  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Mix until thoroughly combined.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. It will be a wet cookie dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  5. Using 2 spoons or an ice cream scoop is a great way to portion cookies with wetter doughs like this one. Portion cookies out using overflowing tablespoonfuls on 2 ungreased cookie sheets, 12 cookies per sheet. Bake just until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn and swap the cookie sheets on each rack for even cooking. Cool on a wire rack.
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Category: dessert

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