Friday, January 16, 2009

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sometimes, no matter how often you tell yourself you shouldn’t do something, it just makes you want to do it more. I told myself I wasn’t going to bake, but I had a sudden attack on Saturday that said “YOU MUST BAKE COOKIES”. I’m blaming it on hormones.

I went in search of a recipe I had all the ingredients for, and I ended up with a Martha recipe. Sadly I had already returned her Cookie cookbook to the library, but I am pretty sure this recipe for Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies was in there. I’m so glad I found it, because it was a really great cookie. I didn’t even feel that guilty about these cookies. It uses some whole wheat flour and rolled oats, so you’re getting some healthy whole grains; and it has a mashed up banana in it, so your cutting down on eggs but not losing moisture. I scooped these smaller than she suggests, and according to my loose calculations (it’s hard to count how many this made, because *some* of the dough disappeared, and also my friend & I ate some before I counted them all!) these are around 100 calories each! I think my cookie size yielded around 50 cookies, Martha said 3 dozen, so even if you made them bigger, they still wouldn’t be a total calorie-overload.

This is a DELICIOUS and somewhat complex tasting cookie. You instantly smell the banana and the chocolate; at first bite you can taste the chocolate chunks & banana. I’ve made lots of cookies with whole grain flour, and with these I really couldn’t tell. The best part is, if you use the coarse Kosher salt, you’ll get a little kick of the salt, which, as I have been learning, really enhances the flavors of sweets. I’m definitely adding this to my cookie regulars!

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Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

from Martha Stewart Cookies Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt (like Kosher salt)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks (I used a Ghiradelli bar I chopped)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flours, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks, and walnuts.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes (I cooked mine around 8-10 minutes because they were smaller). Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days.

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