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These Banana Bread Cookies are soft and moist…just like biting into your favorite loaf of banana bread with some crunchy chopped walnuts!
We love a good banana bread recipe and we also love cookies so combining the two seemed like a pretty good idea!
These Cookies Are The Answer To Those Brown Bananas!
Have a pile of bananas sitting on the counter that are starting to look a little…sad? Funky? On the verge of going from brown to black? I hear you.
You’ll normally find us using those over ripe bananas in our blueberry banana bread or these mini banana muffins.
But sometimes you just need a cookie and that’s where this banana bread cookies recipe come into play.
They hit all the same notes as a moist loaf of banana bread, but they’re served up in chewy cookie that’s studded with bits of walnuts.
Is it illegal to maybe spread a little butter on top of these? I don’t know, but please don’t call the cops.
♥ What We Love About This Recipe:
- Texture: These banana bread cookies have a perfectly soft and moist texture that is similar to banana bread but still in cookie form! Plus you’ve got the chewy oats and the crunchy walnuts in there too.
- Useful: You’ve got to do something with those overly ripe bananas! Instead of just throwing them away turn them into these sweet banana bread cookies. It’s a great way to reduce waste!
- Lunch Box Favorite: These are a great cookie to tuck into your kiddos lunch boxes. They’re made with oats and banana so their sweet treat still has a bit of nutritional value.
Ingredient Notes:
Dry Ingredients – To prepare the cookie dough you’ll need some white sugar, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, rolled oats, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt.
Wet Ingredients – You’ll also need some softened butter, eggs, and vanilla extract for preparing the dough.
Ripe Bananas – As with any banana bread recipe you’ll want to use the overly ripe, brown bananas to get the best results. They’re sweeter and a little mushier which is perfect for a classic banana bread (and banana bread cookies)!
Chopped Walnuts – You can leave these out if you have an allergy, don’t like walnuts, or just don’t like the texture. We like the nutty flavor and the crunch that they add to the banana bread. You could use other chopped nuts here too.
My Favorite Vanilla!
A good quality vanilla really does make a difference and this is my favorite brand.
Variations:
There’s a number of ways you could modify this recipe to make it your own! Here are some good ways to do just that:
- Nuts: You don’t have to stick to walnuts! Chopped pecans, almonds, macadamia nuts, and more are all good options too.
- Chocolate: Some milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips would make an excellent addition to these cookies. White chocolate chips work too!
- Spices: We’ve already got warm cinnamon flavor in these cookies but other spices work here too such as nutmeg, ginger, or cardamom.
- Dried Fruit: Shredded coconut, raisins, dried cranberries, and other dried fruits are also perfect for mixing into these banana bread cookies!
How to Make Banana Bread Cookies:
Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Stir together all of the dry ingredients and then add them to the butter mixture. Mash the bananas and stir that into the cookie dough.
Use a large cookie scoop to drop scoops of cookie dough onto a prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are browned and the cookies are set. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
My Favorite Cookie Scoop!
We use cookie scoops for everything from baking cookies to scooping meatballs to easily filling muffin tins.
Freezing & Storage Instructions:
Let the cookies cool completely before storing to avoid condensation and soggy cookies.
You can store these banana bread cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for about 4 days.
The cookies can also be frozen for up to a few months. Wrap them individually in plastic wrap or foil and store in a freezer safe bag or container. Let them thaw at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
Alternately, freeze the cookie dough and bake directly from the freezer, adding a minute or two to the bake time.
Recipe FAQs:
Overly ripe bananas that have blackened peels with mushy soft banana are perfectly okay to use, but you don’t want to use actual rotten bananas. Avoid using it if the banana itself is turning black beneath the peel.
The fats in the butter help to make the cookie soft and keep it moist.
There are a few ways to speed up the ripening process. If you need ripe bananas quickly, they can be baked (unpeeled) at 300 degrees for about 15 minutes. To speed up the natural ripening process keep them in a bunch and place them in a brown paper bag. Adding other ripe fruit like apples can help too.
More Banana Recipes!
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Nutella Banana Bread
- Mini Banana Muffins
Banana Bread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 medium ripe bananas mashed
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or spray with nonstick spray.
- In the bowl of your mixer cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl stir together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and beat until just combined.
- Mix in the mashed bananas and walnuts until well incorporated.
- Use a large cookie scoop to drop scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake on the middle rack for 12 minutes or until the edges are browned and cookies are set.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Ace says
I tried this recipe and I really enjoyed these cookies. My husband isn’t a fan of chocolate chips with banana bread so I tweeked the recipe a bit to make me and him happy. I made half with the chocolate chips and the other half without. With the half without I made a streusel topping with a bit of brown sugar mixed with butter. I dropped the dough on the pan the put the streusel on top of that before baking. They were awesome and the streusel enhanced the sweetness. I also did that with some of the chocolate chip ones and it was also pretty tastey. Lovely recipe. Thank you!
Asma says
I don’t have brown sugar, are there any alternatives?
Karly says
Sure! Mix a bit of molasses in with your white sugar and stir to combine. The more you add the darker brown sugar you’re making. You can just use white sugar if you don’t have molasses, but the molasses (which is what makes brown sugar brown) does add some flavor.
Pauli & Taylor's Mom says
The first dozen came out of the oven flat and strange tasting…. I added another tsp of flour and the rest came out just perfectly!! Thanks for the great recipe.
My daughter is taking 30 cookies to school tomorrow, and we still have two dozen at home. This recipe makes a lot of cookies!
Stephanie says
Banana bread and chocolate chip cookies – what a great combo!
Jennifer says
I made these last week after finding them on your website. After coming home from work there were 3 left for me. My hubby loved them!
Shari says
I just finished making these and they are super good 🙂
Carol says
Found your blog today, your cookies looked so good, I made a batch! They were excellent, thanks for the recipe! I’m enjoying your blog.
Simone (junglefrog) says
O these look gorgeous! I do have a problem though with my husband being allergic to bananas so I hardly ever make anything with banana in them but I just might have to make these allll for myself!
Jen @ MaplenCornbread says
Oh my goodness these look SOOO good! banana bread in cookie form?!?! good heavens! yum!
Martha says
As a fellow lover of banana, chocolate and oats, these cookies are right up my alley. Just wanted to mention too that I am holding a Cookie Cookbook Giveaway on my site through the end of September and would love to have you register to win if you are interested.
bunny says
These look wonderful! You do a GREAT job with this site–I even added you to my blog roll.
HaB says
This will give me something to do with the over ripe banana I have sitting on my counter at the moment. My husband adores banana bread and my daughter – well, if it looks like a cookie and shaped like a cookie, that is good enough for her.
You know – I thought about you the other night while I was making dinner – as I was frying slices of zucchini in bacon fat, from the the little pieces of bacon I had just cooked to go with the zucchini – oh so good!! LOL
Abbie says
These look great!