Banana Cookies

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Do you ever plan something that seems perfect in your head, but when you actually do it, it's an unmitigated disaster? No, me neither. *whistles*

I had something completely different planned for my first post here. Something fun, family-friendly, and holiday-themed. Something easy enough to get the kiddos involved. Something that I had a tutorial planned for its display. Something very difficult to screw up. And what did I do? I screwed it up, of course.

I was upset because I wanted this done today. I wanted to point and say, see? I'm officially a blogger. And look how awesome and apropos my first post is! But then I go and goof and I'm left with nothing but a picture of my brother pulverizing some peppermint candies.

Then I spot two lonely, black-spotted bananas in the basket and it hits me: banana cookies! I love banana-flavored treats (a friend just accused me of having a fetish) and while they aren't the most winter of flavors, well can't we all use a tropical pick-me-up in these dark winter months? Besides, the other thing I wanted to do didn't require Viola's help, and that's just no fun.

These cookies are actually vegan (just be sure that your flour and sugar is vegan as well if you want it truly vegan), which I didn't realize until halfway through making them, so that's an added bonus right there. I started from a sugar cookie base and tweaked and tweaked until I got these lovely, soft banana-cinnamon cookies.

These are all the ingredients you need, right here. Flour, sugar, vegetable shortening, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking powder and salt (they're together in the little bowl on the left), and those two black-spotted bananas. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl and set aside. Mash the bananas with a fork.

Beat the shortening and sugar together until fluffy. (Hi Viola!) Add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and beat until fully combined. Now add the flour mixture and beat on low until it's wet, then beat on medium until no streaks of flour remain.

If you find your dough to be too sticky, you might want to add a quarter cup of flour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Now roll tablespoon portions of the dough into little balls (a cookie scoop works great). From here, you can make the cookies one of two ways: you can roll the balls of dough in cinnamon sugar, place on the cookie sheet, and flatten slightly; or you can place the balls on the cookie sheet, flatten slightly, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Both ways are yummy, though I find the first to be a little too sweet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to brown. The cookies don't spread very much in the oven, so you get these big, soft cookies. Easy-peasy, yummy, and vegan. Miracles do happen.

Banana Cookies {Printable Version}

Yield: 33 cookies

Ingredients

3¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

2/3 cup solid white vegetable shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar (¼ cup granulated sugar + 1 tsp. ground cinnamon)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl using electric beaters, beat together the shortening and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and beat until fully combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined, then beat on medium speed until no streaks of flour remain. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°. Using a rounded tablespoon of dough each, roll the dough into balls and place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure to leave at least half an inch of space between each. Flatten each ball of dough slightly and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Alternatively, roll each ball of dough in the cinnamon sugar until evenly covered, then place on the cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. Cool completely on wire racks before serving.

Recipe by Kim

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