Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies--with recipe!

I know, earlier this week, I said something about banana bread. I was fully intending to make banana bread. The bananas were getting old, and it seemed like an awesome idea at the time. (I should mention that I usually hate bananas. I'll never eat a banana. But I think they're delicious baked in things, so I let them get old and bake them into things.)

However, sometime between then and now, I was given a recipe for banana COOKIES and I couldn't resist making them. I'm very glad that I didn't. They are absolutely amazing.

These cookies include bananas, chocolate chips, AND peanut butter chips. I had to go buy banana extract (the store only had imitation, boo) and when it came time to add the butter, I realized I didn't have any and had to walk to to convenient store down the street. Well worth it. So, here--have a recipe. Go make some cookies.

RECIPE: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

makes about 36 medium-sized cookies

Ingredients:

-2 and 2/3 cups flour

-1 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp salt (optional; I always leave the salt out of baked goods if possible)

-2 sticks butter (salted or unsalted)

-1 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-3 large (or 5 medium) overripe bananas

-1 tsp banana extract

-1 large egg (should be at room temperature)

-1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

-1 (10 oz) bag peanut butter chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt if you're using it. Set aside.

3. Cream together the butter and both sugars.

4. Add the bananas, banana extract and egg. Mix well.

5. Add the flour mixture and chips. Mix until the chips are well-integrated into the dough.

6. Realize you forgot to preheat the oven, and figure it's probably better this way, since it'll heat in the amount of time it takes you to scoop out the cookie dough. Turn the oven on to 325 degrees.

7. Scoop out the cookie dough, leaving a decent amount of room on the side of each ball (the actual amount of room depends on how big you're making the cookies).

8. Bake for 18-22 minutes (and pay attention while they're baking so you can take them out earlier if they look done; they come out sort of crispy if you've only got one sheet in there. //Edit: they're not actually that crispy. They end up with a slightly harder outer layer but remain soft and chewy on the inside. These cookies may just be the most perfect cookies ever.)

Step 4

Step 7

Step 9 (eat)

Update, 17 June 2010: This recipe won a banana-dessert-recipe contest over at Haute Whimsy--you should check it out!