Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies have nice, chewy edges and a soft, moist center. A great use for soft, brown bananas, skip the banana bread this time and try this delicious cookie recipe!

Why You Will Love Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

• DELICIOUS – One of my favorite combinations is Chocolate and Banana.   I also love Chocolate and Peanut Butter.  I’ve even made some recipes including all three of these things, such as my Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes with Chocolate Chips. These cookies are a great way to highlight these two great ingredients. And, using banana in your cookies makes them extra soft and moist!
• HEALTHIER – In addition to the potassium and vitamins you get with a banana, I was also able to cut the amount of butter I used in the cookies in half. 
• GREAT USE FOR LEFTOVER BANANAS – If you are like us, you’ve always got some bananas browning on your countertop. This cookie recipe is a great use for soft bananas. You can even make the dough, freeze it and then bake it later. 

How To Make Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s super easy, using some very common ingredients you probably already have in your house. For step-by-step instructions, check out the printable recipe card below.  Here is what you’ll need to get started:

• BANANAS – I used two, medium sized VERY RIPE bananas. You’ll want the ones with those ugly dark spots on them! Those are perfect for this recipe. If you have a large banana, one would probably be ok. And it all depends on the amount of banana flavor you want in these cookies.
• FLOUR – All Purpose Flour. Or, you can sub for Whole Wheat Flour at a 1:1 ration if you’d like. Make these cookies gluten free by substituting Gluten Free Flour as well!
• WHITE SUGAR – We use both white granulated sugar and brown sugar in this recipe. 1 cup of white and 3/4 cup of brown. The total of 1 3/4 cup of total sugar works well. But if you’d like to adjust the comparative measurements to your liking, you can. Just keep it at 1 3/4 cup of total sugar.
• BROWN SUGAR – See above.
• VANILLA EXTRACT – Gives these cookies an elegant, rich taste!
• ALMOND EXTRACT – Just a half teaspoon of almond extract. A splash of Almond Extract is my “secret ingredient” in all my cookies. But you can omit it if you’d like or if someone has an allergy.
• SALT – A dash of salt balances nicely with the sweetness of these cookies.
• BAKING SODA – Helps these cookies rise to their soft, chewy texture!
• LARGE EGGS – Get your eggs to room temperature before adding them to this recipe.
• BUTTER – I use butter in all my cookies. Some people use vegetable oil, which really does help keep a cookie moist. But I just really LOVE that buttery taste you get when you use softened butter. We use unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, you may want to reduce the amount of salt you add. 
• CHOCOLATE CHIPS/CHUNKS – I swear by using 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chunks and 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips. But you can use whatever you’d like. We sometimes use dark chocolate chips and they work great. 

Storage and Freezing

Store your cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. They should keep for about 5 days. If you want to keep them soft and moist, you can use the age-old trick of sticking a slice of bread in the container with them.

You can freeze this cookie dough before you bake it. I’d roll the dough into a log and wrap it with freezer paper and aluminum foil. It will keep in your freezer for up to 4 months. Or, you can use a cookie scoop and to put dollops of cookie dough on a cookie sheet. Flash freeze the dough balls in your freezer. Once hard, you can put them in a freezer bag and store then like that. Then just take out as many cookies as you’d like to bake. Thaw out in the refrigerator before baking.

Notes, Tips and FAQs

• ADD NUTS – Add cashews, almonds, pecans or walnuts to this recipe. This will give it some extra flavor and crunch.
• HOW RIPE DOES MY BANANA NEED TO BE? – You really don’t need a super ripe (totally brown) banana for this recipe. These cookies taste best with a mashed banana that still has some yellow to it, but is nice and soft. Just look for a couple of those brown spots on the peel.
• ADD CINNAMON – Bananas  and cinnamon go really well together. Add just a dash of cinnamon to this recipe and these cookies will taste a little more like chocolate chip banana bread. And there is nothing wrong with that!
• SPRINKLE WITH SALT – Before baking, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little bit of sea salt. 
• DON’T OVERMIX THE DOUGH – A common mistake when mixing dough is to overmix it. When incorporating the wet  ingredients and the flour mixture, stir until they are JUST combined and then stop immediately. Continuing to mix can result in a dry cookie!
• REFRIGERATE DOUGH – Make sure you put the dough in the fridge before you scoop it out into the cookie sheet. That helps these cookies not bake too flat.
• HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOUR COOKIES ARE DONE? – The edges of the cookies should have a golden brown color. It’s ok if the center still looks a little jiggy. They will cook more as then cool on the cookie sheet. 
• USE A SILICONE MAT OR PARCHMENT PAPER – This recipe is much easier, and these cookie bake much better, if you can line your baking sheet with something.

If you like this chocolate chip banana cookies, check out my recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.