Toasted Pecan and Banana Cookies
First off, I should mention that these cookies were a bit of an experiment and that the recipe started off sugar free. I made them for a bakeoff challenge that I participate in every week on Instagram. The challenge was to make a sugar free dessert. No sugar, no honey or maple syrup, no artificial sweeteners.
To make use of what I had on hand, I tried banana as a natural sweetener in a buttery shortbread cookie. For added flavor, I used a mix of all purpose & almond flours, and added royal cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and LOTS of toasted, chopped pecans.
And the thing is…the first batch came out pretty nice. Kind of like a cookie version of a not-too-sweet banana bread. Which seems about right since the entire internet is making banana bread during these quarantine days. But thing is, they were missing a little something. And that something was a bit of sugar. So…. I broke down and rolled the edges of the next batch in some Demerara sugar and those caramelized edges made all the difference. So did I pull-off this bakeoff challenge? Nope. But did I end up with some delicious cookies. Yes!
Below is what I made, but I think you could riff on this recipe a little. You could swap some of the chopped pecans for equal amounts of chopped semisweet chocolate, or add in a couple of tablespoons of light brown sugar when you cream the butter, or try chopped almonds instead of the pecans. But definitely still toast them. Just make sure you don’t use LESS of any of these “mix-ins”. The soft dough needs them to hold together.
Toasted Pecan and Banana Cookie Recipe
Yield:
Approximately 24 cookies
Difficulty:
Easy
Plan ahead:
The cookie dough needs chill for 2-3 hours or overnight before slicing and baking.
Ingredients:
120 grams pecan halves
110 grams all purpose flour
32 grams almond flour
1 tsp (3 grams) cornstarch
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
¼ tsp table salt
85 grams very ripe banana, mashed (about 1 medium banana)
1 tsp vanilla extract
113 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into cubes.
⅓ cup Demerara sugar, turbinado sugar, or sanding sugar.
Instructions:
In a 10 or 12 inch skillet, spread out the pecans into a single layer. Heat over medium until fragrant and a little shiny. 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. Remove from heat. Finely chop when cooled enough to handle and set aside.
Whisk all purpose flour, almond flour, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt together into a medium sized bowl to blend. Set aside.
Stir the cornstarch into the banana mash until well combined. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature butter, vanilla, and mashed banana. Beat medium speed until well combined and a little fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.
Take the bowl off the mixer and add all of the flour mixture at once. Give it a few stirs by hand before putting it back on the mixer. This will help avoid flour flying everywhere once you turn the mixer back on. Mix on low speed until just combined. Stir in the toasted pecans until evenly distributed.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a log about 2 inches thick, flattening the ends as much as possible. It can be helpful to use a piece of parchment to press it into shape. If the dough is too soft, put it in the refrigerator to firm up for about 20 minutes then try again.
Tightly wrap the cookie dough in the plastic wrap and chill until very firm. 2-3 hours. You can also chill overnight.
Once the dough is firm, preheat your oven to 350° F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the Demerara sugar in a shallow bowl. A dinner plate, or pie plate works too. Cut the the log of dough in half and roll it in the sugar, pressing it in so the edges are thoroughly coated. Repeat with the second half.
Using a serrated knife, gently slice cookies into generous ¼ inch thick rounds and place on baking sheets 1 inch apart.
Bake for 10-13 minutes. Rotating pans top to bottom halfway through. They should be golden brown at the edges. They’ll still be a little soft but will firm up some while they cool. Because of the banana and almond flour, the centers won’t get completely crisp.
Let the shortbread cool for 3-5 minutes in pan before transferring to cooling rack.
Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. Or wrap tightly and freeze up to a month.
