Glargh. The sound of drool.

[stoney321]

What I'm about to make: Banana Chocolate Toffee Cookies

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 c. mashed bananas (about 2 large bananas)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. Heath toffee bits
1/2 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until light and fluffy.
2. In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas, which will give the cookies their lift and rise.
3. Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually add to the banana mixture, mixing until just combined.<
4. Gently stir the toffee bits and white chocolate chips into the batter. Drop in dollops onto a parchment paper or foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 3 dozen cookies

I think I'll rap the cookie sheet on the counter to not make them so puffy, though. I like chewy cookies.

This random recipe brought to you by my need to do something other than hide from the plethora of children that have descended upon my home like so many locusts.

Comments

[bienegold.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Do want.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to double the recipe and freeze half next time. We're DEVOURING them. Rapping the cookie sheet on the counter is def. the way to go - I didn't on one batch and they're... eh. The chewier ones are much better.

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

I just made homemade buttercream frosting for the chocolate cake that my son made (for my Mom's birthday today). We intend to eat ourselves stupid a bit later (steak, baked potatoes, garlic bread, birthday cake. Oh, a little salad. You know, for color.)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

MMmmmMmmmm. Buttercream frosting is my FAVORITE. Save me a plate, I'll be there in a bit and I'll bring the wine.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

I am quivering from YUM. Also, I'd love recommendations of butter-sugar creaming techniques when a hand-mixer of the electrical sort is not available.

AND: I can't remember if I said this, but thou shalt send me thy book with ehemdations for lookovers.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

You cannot even think of creaming butter and sugar together if the butter isn't room temp. It just won't happen by hand. And Once you let it get that way, use the fattest wooden spoon you can get - it'll do a bunch of the work for you by virtue of the fat bowl part.

Ooooh, I shall! Also: I AM JEALOUS OF THE AUDI 3. Damn, I bet that was fuuuun.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Oh gawd. That sounds delicious...

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

so were they good?

[brandiweed.livejournal.com]

(Came over here to re-read the Sparkledaemmurung, decided to browse some other posts...)

Have you read the Shirley O Corriher cookbook CookWise? She approaches cooking from admittedly a very scientific viewpoint (she's a biochemist by training), but some of her information on the chemical reactions in baking and the effects it has on food are really interesting-- she shows, for instance, how one cookie recipe can result in cookies ranging from wide, flat and crispy to soft and puffy depending on the water in the dough, the melting pattern of the fat, and the protein content of the flour.

Re-skimming that section, I came across the observation that "Cookies using fats with high water content are going to be soft and puffy. They will steam up to a fair height." I'm betting that in this case it's not the water content of the butter but of the bananas that made a difference. Perhaps substituting dried bananas for some or all of the fresh would help flatten them out?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

(hello! poke around all you'd like)

Oh, I love that kind of an approach to cooking - it gives you a basic understanding of how things work so you can go off recipe and experiment a bit.

I will say that rapping the cookies on the counter deflated them some - I did it when they had 2 minutes left, then put them back in. That resulted in them puffing up again, but not as much as they had been before.

Over all these ended up tasting like a banana bread, not very cookie like, but still pretty dang tasty. And I think your observation makes sense, re: moisture of the bananas.