Banana Cookies

How to drive your wife crazy:  

Eat bananas like they’re going out of style, then suddenly stop.  Repeat with banana bread. 

Works every time.  Has for years at our house.   ;^)

I have a cache of bananas in the deep freeze.  It explains why I am constantly looking for new banana recipes. 

This banana recipe is a particularly good one.  Like many of my favourites, it comes from “The Fanny Farmer Baking Book,” by Marion Cunningham.  

These cookies are inexpensive to make and they have a lovely flavour; a pleasing combination of banana and lemon. They're inexpensive to make and, because the recipe contains no eggs, the batter is a safe treat for the raw cookie dough fans in the household. (Me!)

To make Banana Cookies, you’ll need:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• The zest of one lemon
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup mashed banana
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream together the butter and sugar, and beat them until they’re light and fluffy.  Add the lemon zest, juice and mashed banana and beat well.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix well to make a stiff but sticky dough.  Stir in the walnuts.

Scoop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough and place them about 2 inches apart, on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Flatten the dough slightly with your moistened fingertips so that each round is about 1/3 inch thick and 1-1/2 inches in diameter.

Bake at 400˚F for about 8 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are slightly browned. 

Cool the cookies on a sheet of brown paper.  Store them in an airtight container.