Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies (a Hannah Swensen Recipe)

You may or may not know this about me already, but I LOVE to read. It is one of my very favorite hobbies and has been since I was able to read. I used to be a fan of mostly fantasy stories, and later, I included sci-fi. Now, I read all sorts of books. Last year, I heard about a niche genre of books that included recipes. Most of the books are mysteries, but novels with recipes pop up in other genres too. In fact, the first recipe novel I read was a romance. Honestly, mystery is much preferred.

While I definitely thought this was an awesome idea, the first novel I read wasn’t necessarily my thing. Then, I stumbled onto Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe she was the pioneer of this fun sub-genre. All I know is that I see her books at department stores, and as far as I know, they are the only recipe novels that make it onto the shelf there.

I heard you could start anywhere in the series (I personally kind of disagree with this) so I started on book 13, Plum Pudding Murder, because it’s one of the ones I could get my hands on first. It was so fun and quick to read and I loved the characters. The recipes looked amazing too! Most of it was stuff I could actually see myself making and enjoying and it tied into the novel adorably. As you know, I adore anything banana and this is my attempt at Hannah’s Chocolate Chip Banana cookies.

Okay so one thing I noticed about her recipes is that many of the cookies call for powdered sugar instead of regular. Yes, powdered! I was super surprised and really excited to try something new. This is a picture of the butter creamed with powdered sugar. Also, you can probably see the indents the beaters left. Electric mixer is our friend!

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Another unusual thing I noticed is that this recipe doesn’t call for any egg. Recently, I have made a couple other things that don’t call for egg and it always baffles me. I have to say, they have turned out amazing and it has been nice to branch out in my baking. I also found it odd that you don’t have to mash the ripe banana first, you just tear it up and use the mixer to incorporate it. The simplicity is genius.

After adding the dry ingredients and the flour, which you don’t have to mix in a separate bowl, you fold in the chocolate chips by hand. I didn’t measure the chocolate chips, I just poured until my heart said “when.” Also, the recipe doesn’t call for it, but I decided to add regular and mini chocolate chips. It’s all personal preference.

They require some “smooshing” before they go into the oven, but as delicious as that batter is, they might not even make it there! Since there’s no egg, I don’t even have to pretend to feel bad about devouring half the bowl.

The finished product was very tasty and the texture was almost cake like. I am really curious to try it again except with half brown sugar and half confectioners sugar. It may be a bust, but you never know until you try!

If you can get your hands on the Hannah Swensen series, they are truly great for this time in the world. It’s nice to have a quick fun read that takes your mind off of everything. Baking the recipes really makes it fun and I feel like it takes you into the book even more. Thanks to my library’s e-book system, I was able to start from book one and I can’t wait to make/bake my way through all 20+ books in the series! Combining baking and reading has been such a blast for me and I can’t wait to blog more of Hannah’s recipes.

If you’re already a fan of the series, what is your favorite recipe so far? I would love to hear it!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note: I did not type this exactly as it appears in the book. This was how I did it. I made two small adaptations to the recipe and I noted them in parentheses. For the original recipe and instructions, check out Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke.

• 1c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/2c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract (I used caramel extract instead)
• 1/2c. mashed banana (1 medium banana)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2c. flour
• 1c. chocolate chips (or more if desired)

Preheat oven to 400

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it’s light and fluffy, Next, add in the extract and add in the ripe banana, tearing it into smaller pieces. Beat the mixture until smooth. This may take a few minutes and it helps to increase the mixing speed as the banana gets incorporated.

Once smooth, beat in the baking powder and salt. Add the flour 1/2c. at a time, mixing after each addition. Once it’s thoroughly mixed and smooth, fold in the chocolate chips by hand for a more even distribution.

Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper (I chose parchment paper) and spray it with cooking spray before dropping the cookies onto the sheet. You can make them about any size you would like, but I used a tablespoon sized scoop. Flatten them a bit with a greased spatula and bake them for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden.

Remove them to a cooling rack after 2 minutes. When all cookies are completely cooled, store them in an airtight container.