The edges of these cookies end up tasting like banana brittle, they are so addictive!
When faced with mushy brown bananas, most people turn them into banana bread or muffins, which also have a chewy texture. This recipe takes those soft bananas and transforms them into crispy, crunchy, lacy cookies.
Banana Lace Cookies
Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 30 minutes. Inactive time: 20 minutes. Yields: 42-48 cookies (see tips).
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
1 cup mashed brown bananas (about 2 large bananas)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond flour*
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips
*Almond flour is important for crispy, lacy cookies (see tip below about using all AP flour).
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the vinegar and vanilla, and continue to beat until incorporated. The vinegar helps to offset the sweetness of the ripe bananas.
3. Add the baking soda in with the mashed bananas then mix into the butter mixture. Do not use more than 1 cup of banana, as too much makes chewy cookies and we are going for crispy cookies!
4. Whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour and salt. Add to the batter and mix until just combined.
5. Fold the dark chocolate chips into the batter.
6. Using a tablespoon ice-cream scoop, or a regular large spoon, drop tablespoon-size amounts of batter onto parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet, making sure they are about 2 inches apart.
7. Bake 12-14 minutes until the edges are dark brown. (The dark color is important for crispy cookies). Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to complete cooling. Do not overlap the cookies on the rack.
Tips
If you cannot find almond flour, you can blitz whole almonds in the food processor with half the sugar in the recipe to create coarse almond meal.
You could use all AP flour, but they won't be lacy or as crisp as the almond flour version. The all AP flour ones tend to get chewy in the middle and are best eaten shortly after baking (or popped in the microwave later). If you want a gluten free version, its best to add a gluten free flour to the almond flour, for the best texture. All almond flour will make them too soft and lacy.
To get 48 cookies out of the batter, use a tablespoon scoop and level-off each scoop. When using a large spoon, you will probably get a few less cookies.
After they are completely cool and the chocolate chips have set, you can store them in a cookie tin between layers of wax paper. Though, they are so tasty, they probably won’t last very long!