I’m so pleased to present this most delicious Guest Post and recipe by my friend and fellow food blogger, Alyssa from Everyday Maven.
I met Alyssa last year at a blogging conference here in Seattle and we’ve been friends ever since. Alyssa is an NYU Graduate and a dynamic, beautiful young woman on a mission to help others achieve a healthy, active lifestyle through delicious whole foods. Her recipes are mouth-watering and feel indulgent, although prepared with the enticing flavors of whole foods.
Alyssa has so graciously developed a dessert recipe for Karista’s Kitchen and I for one am thrilled! I’m not much of a baker so the sweets posted here at Karista’s Kitchen seem to be few and far between. Huge thanks to Alyssa for this lovely post and decadent Banana Chip Cookies.
BANANA CHIP COOKIES (grain free, gluten free, nut free) FROM EVERYDAY MAVEN ~
Hello Everyone and a huge Thank You to Karista for hosting me here today!
My name is Alyssa and I publish Everyday Maven. Everyday Maven is where whole foods meets weight watchers – real food recipes for the home cook who wants to keep their food clean and their waistline trim.
A couple of months ago, my family started down the road of eliminating gluten and most grains from our diet. This was no small undertaking and a huge sea change for us as we were used to baking and cooking with all kinds of whole grain flours. I will admit that it was somewhat of a reluctant change for the family. Add in a 3+ year old self proclaimed, “chocolate chip cookie monster” who is about to lose his precious cookies and you are pretty much on the verge of a crisis.
Obviously, I needed a Grain Free and Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie in my repertoire to help bridge the transition and make everyone happy. I searched high and low and tried at least a dozen recipes.
The majority of the recipes I found contained some type of nut flour (almond, hazelnut, etc.) which is fine for us as we don’t have any nut allergies but my son’s preschool is nut-free and I wanted a recipe that was safe to bring to school functions and would make all of the toddlers (and their parents) happy.
After some trial and error, I finally settled on this version. These have a great chocolate chip flavor with a slight banana undertone. They are naturally sweet from the banana and only need 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar for 2 dozen!
The tapioca starch helps them crisp up a bit more than just using coconut flour and they keep well for a couple days. These are a softer cookie and tend to stay that way, even when stored in a cookie tin overnight. However, these Banana Chip Cookies disappear really fast so you may not even wind up with that problem.
I hope you’ll visit me over at Everyday Maven for more real food recipes!
Thanks,
Alyssa
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 large frozen banana, cut into chunks and thawed
1 large egg
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
2 Tablespoons organic coconut oil, melted but not hot
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons sifted coconut flour
1 Tablespoon sifted tapioca starch
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grab a baking sheet and line with a Silpat. If you don’t have a Silpat, use parchment paper. I have tried these cookies on both and really prefer the results using a Silpat.
- Combine thawed banana chunks, egg and coconut palm sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the beater attachment. Start off by beating slowly (setting 1 or 2) and work up to 4. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes until banana chunks are broken down.
- With the mixer still running, pour in the melted coconut oil. Continue beating for another minute and turn off mixer.
- Add in the vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda and sea salt. Beat until well combined.
- Finally, add in sifted coconut flour and tapioca starch. Beat on low speed until completely mixed in.
- Remove bowl from mixer and gently stir in chocolate chips.
- Use a tablespoon to drop batter onto the baking sheet. You do not need to leave a lot of room around the edge of these cookies as they do not spread very much. I usually fit all 24 on 1 baking sheet. Use your finger to spread the cookies and form them.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven when edges begin to brown.
- Allow cookies to cool for 1 or 2 minutes and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Once completely cool, store in a cookie tin or wrapped in tin foil. Enjoy!
Adapted From: Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies from Ditch the Wheat
This looks like a wonderful recipe! Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome! Alyssa always makes the yummiest recipes! Enjoy 🙂
What a terrific guest post! I love bananas and chocolate together, and I’ve been baking more with coconut flour so I can’t wait to try these cookies. Wishing both you lovely ladies a very happy mother’s day weekend!
Thank you Hannah! I can’t wait to make these cookies too. Wishing you a beautiful and happy Mother’s Day. So wonderful seeing you in person yesterday! Hugs!!
Karista, thank you for hosting me and for the lovely introduction! I hope you have an amazing Mother’s Day filled with love, laughs and good food 🙂 xoxo
Alyssa, you are so welcome! Thank you for such a delicious post. 🙂 Wishing you a beautiful and delicious Mother’s Day as well.
Yummy and very wholesome!
I made them this weekend and they are delish! Two of my fave flavors together… banana and chocolate 🙂 Have a lovely day Ksenia!
Thank you, Karista! Hope you had a beautiful Mother’s Day!
Sounds delicious and healthy too.
Thank you Norma! I just had a little browse at your blog. What a lovely blog and love your recipes!
Strangely I’ve never thought of doing banana cookies – what a great recipe!
Thanks Frugal! Alyssa prepares some delicious dishes and these are one of my faves. Have a fabulous day!
The banana idea is brilliant. Really clever recipe – thanks so much for this.
You are so welcome John! Take a minute and go check out Alyssa’s blog. You’ll love all the deliciousness over there. 🙂
I made these and loved them! Really great flavor and dense. chewy texture i just love in cookies. I had to almost double the flours to get i so the batter wasn’t dripping off my spoon. I am thinking maybe it was my bananas…I used one and half, but they were large.
I also set the timer to 20 minutes and was glad I did…they golden all over and would have been over-done had i cooked them any longer!
I also was only able to make 14 cookies using a tablespoon measurement…fyi!
Thanks for a yummy recipe!
Hi Tessa,
It sounds like your bananas were really big – I have made this recipe at least a dozen times and never had to add more flour.
Also, coconut flour absorbs moisture (pretty aggressively!) so I am not too surprised that by adding more coconut flour you actually wound up with less cookies.
Next time, try the recipe as-is with 1.5 medium bananas and you should get 2 dozen.
Glad you liked them! Alyssa
oh yes, coconut flour is a real moisture sucker! About how much, roughly would you say you use of mashed banana, or how long are your ‘medium’ bananas?
Hi Tessa,
I just weighed what I usually use and it is about 7 ounces. I hope that helps!
These look fantastic – coconut flour can be tricky to work with, so I especially love seeing a good cookie recipe using it.
Thanks Jeanette! Check out Alyssa’s blog for more recipes using coconut flour. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Yay! I am going to have to try these!
They are delish! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
This recipe is a hit! Thanks for posting!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks like perfect banana chip cookies without all of the eliminations. Wow!
Thanks Kiran. They are delish and feel decadent 🙂
Mmm! These look delicious! I love Everyday Maven too 🙂
This recipe looks good! Can I use a banana that hasn’t been frozen?
I think that would be ok Samantha, but feel free to leave a comment on Alyssa’s Blog http://www.everydaymaven.com with the question. This is her recipe and she will be able to tell you for sure if it’ll work or not. Thanks for stopping by!
Could I skip egg and use a flax or chia gel egg to make these egg free too??
Kristen I’m sure it’s worth a try. I haven’t used egg alternative in this recipe, however I have in others and I usually get a good result. If you try it, be sure to let us know how it turns out. Happy Baking!
And since it’s only one egg I think it will be ok
Have you ever figured out the sugar grams on this recipe. I came across a website a couple of years ago that would break down all your recipes’ nutritional stats (cal, carb, sodium, sugar, etc) but cant find the web address any longer.
Debbie I’ll check with Alyssa at Everyday Maven to see if she’s got any nutritional information. Thank you!