Chocolate Banana Pecan Cookies

These chocolate banana pecan cookies are fudgy, nutty, and packed with bananas, chocolate chips, and pecans. Enjoy them with a cup of tea, coffee, or a refreshing glass of milk. They are the ultimate holiday cookies, especially for baking with kids.

These cookies are tasty. Loaded with chocolate chips and chopped pecans with a hint of cinnamon, they are exceptionally delicious.

If you bake these cookies for the first time, you might be surprised by making a whole batch of cookies. But it is easily consumed within 1-2 days.

This Yotam Ottolenghi cookie recipe is easy and fun to make. The only downside is that they require 3 hours of chilling. So, make sure to plan your baking to allow enough time.

Do you not feel like spending hours making cookies? Freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 3 months and bake them anytime.

Chocolate banana recipe

• This delicious chocolate banana recipe is made with simple ingredients.

• Adding a banana to the recipe adds moisture and flavor to cookies.

• They are tasty and fun to make with the little ones.

• The cookies are freezer-friendly.

• They are perfect to add to your Christmas cookie box or package them in a pretty bag, tied with a bow and a printable cookie gift tag.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Butter: The recipe calls for unsalted butter softened at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge 1 to 2 hours before you start. If desired, use salted butter to make the recipe: the salt balances the sweetness in the cookies. But omit salt as an ingredient in this case.

• Sugar: Use granulated sugar or caster sugar interchangeably. You can replace it with golden brown sugar to give these cookies a deeper flavor.

• Egg: The recipe calls for one large egg at room temperature.

• Flour: Use all-purpose flour to make these cookies. You can try to replace ⅓ of flour with whole wheat flour for the healthier option.

• Baking powder is used as a leavening agent. Use fresh aluminum-free baking powder. Please don't confuse it with baking soda.

• Cocoa powder: Use Valrhona raw cocoa powder.

• Ground cinnamon brings a warm note to these cookies.

• Salt enhances the flavors.

• Chocolate chips: Use dark chocolate chips or replace them with milk ones or chopped Valrhona dark chocolate.

Pro tip: One of the best chocolate chips to make cookies is Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips with the most beautiful balance of bitterness and sweetness. But Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips perfectly work to make these cookies as well.

• Banana: For the best flavor, use overripe bananas with brown spots or brown bananas. You will need to make mashed bananas from about ½ small bananas.

Pro tip: To ripe bananas, place the unpeeled banana on a baking sheet and bake at 250 F/120 C for 20 minutes.

• Pecan: Use unsalted raw or roasted pecans. They add beautiful flavor and texture. You can replace pecans with walnuts if preferred. Make sure you buy halved or chopped nuts that save you a bit of time.

• Icing sugar: Make it yourself with a coffee grinder or use store-bought confectioners' sugar.

Recipe variations

• Roast pecans instead of using raw ones. Roasted nuts bring a beautiful nutty flavor.

• Replace pecans with raw or roasted walnuts.

• Use light brown sugar instead of white sugar. Brown sugar contains molasses and is more complex in flavor.

How to make chocolate banana cookies

Step 1. To make the cookie dough, place softened butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until fluffy.

Step 2. Add the egg to the bowl and whisk until the mixture becomes homogeneous (photo 1).

Step 3. Use a flour sifter and sift flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt in a separate mixing bowl.

Step 4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on a low speed for 15 seconds until just combined (photo 2).

Step 5. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Mash bananas in a small bowl using a potato masher or a fork.

Step 6. Add chocolate chips and banana mixture to the principal preparation (photo 3) and mix with a rubber spatula (photo 4).

Step 7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Step 8. Use your hands to make the one-inch (2.5 cm) round balls, about 0.7 oz (20 g) each, from the dough. Wash your hands to facilitate rolling the dough into balls.

Step 9. Place chopped pecans in a small bowl and roll each ball into pecan pieces to coat. Press the pecans so that the dough balls are entirely covered with nuts (photo 5).

Step 10. Place cookie balls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper - the distance between them does not matter - and refrigerate again for at least an hour (photo 6).

Step 11. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Place icing sugar in a bowl and generously roll each cookie ball in the sugar.

Step 12. Place balls on the prepared baking sheet lined with parchment one inch (2.5 cm) apart, flatten cookies to 0.4 inches (1 cm) thick (photo 7), and bake for 10 minutes.

Step 13. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool still on baking trays for 10 minutes (photo 8).

Gently transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Expert Tips

1. Respect the chilling times to prevent the cookies from spreading.
2. Use a small cookie scoop to form the balls of the dough to make equal-sized portions.
3. Preheat the oven before baking the cookies to let them cook evenly.
4. Do not over-bake cookies: they should be slightly underbaked to get the fudgy center. Once the cookies cool, the center will finish cooking but remain soft.
5. Serve cookies on the day of baking: they taste the best.
6. Make-ahead option: Make the dough, cover cookie balls with chopped pecans, wrap the baking sheet with plastic film, and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Storing and freezing

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days.

It is not recommended to refrigerate cookies because the imbalanced moisture of the fridge results in cookie texture changes.

Can you freeze chocolate banana cookies? These cookies freeze very well. Store them in a Ziploc bag for up to 1 month to preserve freshness.

You can also freeze the unbaked dough as dough balls wrapped in chopped pecans for up to 3 months. Thaw cookies in the fridge overnight and bake the next day.

Recipe FAQ

Love banana recipes? Try these next!

If you love banana desserts, these delicious recipes are just for you. They vary from sugar-free banana cake to sweet banana bread.

• Banana bread with streusel
• Banana Nutella crepes
• Banana bread mini muffins
• Christmas banana bread
• Sugar-free banana bread

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from https://ottolenghi.co.uk/. It was initially published on September 27, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos.