Sweet Indulgence- Part III

It's still that time of year where I'm continuously in that baking mood. The best thing about the holidays is that there is often an endless amount of parties to drop these tasty treats off at, rather than overindulging in them myself!

These cookies bring back fond memories of my BFF! We've been making them since we were teenagers. The best thing about these cookies are their slight mystification! By quick glance, they look ordinary, BUT by no means are these cookies plain old boring chocolate chips cookies. These are banana chocolate chip walnut cookies. Their texture is smooth and soft and melts in your mouth as an immaculate and exceptional fancy cake would! So YUM!

Two things I've recently learned after making these cookies for years are 1) If you plan ahead and use room temperature butter, the mixing just goes so much more smoothly. 2) Walnuts in this recipe should NOT be optional!

I should add a little personal note here. I loathe bananas as an ingredient in any recipe. I only like fresh bananas- and they must be on the greener side. I dislike banana splits, baked bananas, frozen bananas, bananas in fruit salad, etc. You name it; I don't like it EXCEPT these cookies. I don't know exactly what it is about these cookies, but these bite-full of temptuous goodness are to die for! :)
















Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies (Walnuts Optional)
Recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
1 ripe, medium banana
1.25 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter or margarine softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Peel banana, place in a small bowl, mash and set aside. You should have approximately 1/2 cup mashed banana.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
4. Using a mixture beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in banana, egg, and vanilla.
6. Add flour mixture. Ensure the flour is well mixed.
7. Using a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
8. Drop rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet about 2" apart.
9. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
10. Let cookies cool about 2 minutes on sheet until transferring to a cookie rack.
11. Let cool completely before storing cookies in an air tight container at room temperature. DO NOT FREEZE COOKIES (as they don't freeze well!)