Monday, January 03, 2005

Mondays with Maida - Chocolate Banana Cookies


Page 31 in the old book / page 42 in the new book

We’re coming down the home stretch with these chocolate drop cookies…I promise! This week it's Chocolate Banana cookies. These are to me an old-fashioned drop cookie. I’m not sure why I think that – perhaps because they remind me of a cookie my Mom used to make. It may also be because they are rather plain in appearance, but very tasty. They have a good amount of banana in them and would be a nice alternative to banana bread when you’re looking for a way to use up those aging bananas.

There are no unusual ingredients in these cookies – in fact, I had everything I needed on hand for a change. Melted chocolate chips provide the chocolate flavoring for these cookies and lots of walnuts provide added interest. These go together easily and I had no goof-ups this time. I did a couple of double-takes as I was following the recipe, though. The order that the ingredients are added is a bit different and I was a little paranoid after last week’s episode with seizing chocolate. The recipe is supposed to make 55 cookies, but I ended up with 45 cookies. Maida Heatter says to “Use a heaping teaspoonful (make these rather large) of the dough”, but not as large as I did, apparently. (Note: the nutrition data is based on 55 cookies.)



Easy peasy, no troubles, and in the end delicious cookies – can’t beat that! The dominant flavor in these cookies is the banana. I was wondering as I ate one if I would even be able to detect the chocolate in them if I didn’t know that it was in there (and had my eyes closed!). I think the chocolate provides a richness that would be missed even if it doesn't provide a distinctive taste of chocolate. In any case, they are very good. I ate one while still slightly warm and it had a delicate crunch on the outside and was soft on the inside. Then there’s the crunch of the walnuts and that wonderful banana flavor. Yum!

Next week will be a rerun of sorts – I will revisit the Chocolate and Peanut-Butter Ripples that I made a couple months ago before starting this project. Actually, it was making those cookies that inspired me to start Mondays with Maida. I realized after making them how few recipes I had tried in the book and how much I like those I had tried. I guess I just needed an excuse to make more cookies!

Nutrition Facts

6 comments:

santos. said...

hi cathy--surprisingly, i'm beginning to miss all that chocolate frosting :-)

Reid said...

Hi Cathy,

The cookies sound wonderful. If I had them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream would it taste like a banana split? =)

chuckless said...

They sound great but I think I would want the chocolate taste to come through more...do you think it would be possible to balance the flavors more? Regardless, love the phrase "easy peasy"!?!?!?!?

Cathy said...

Santos - there'll be more - trust me!

Reid - I'm not sure about that - maybe with a little chocolate syrup

Chuck - maybe if a slapped a little chocolate icing on top then everyone would be happy! :o)

Actually, I think these went over really well. I brought them into work today and was a little worried that everyone would have made a new year's resolution to lose weight and that I wouldn't be able to get rid of the cookies. Not a problem - they're gone!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I have to admit...I was getting a teensy bit tired of chocolate drop cookies, until you made these!! These sound really, really good to me. I love all things baked with banana and it sounds so especially good with the walnuts.
Alice

Cathy said...

Hi Alice - me too (only 2 more left - I'm very excited!), but I really did like these. When I opened the oven to rotate the baking sheets they smelled sooo good!