The other cookies I made were peanut brittle. They were good, but I felt that these were much better. I am a little tired after making a total of 12 dozen, but since I only do it once a month, I have plenty of time to recover.
Now, about these cookies. They are very cake-like and are better the next day. The banana flavor does need some time to develops. Also, since it still is hot here, I have stored these in the fridge. This way the chopped crunch bar pieces in the cookie stay crispy. A banana cookie with the crunch of a chopped up crispy bar-sounds pretty good, right?
The brand of bar I used was the big size of a Nestle Crunch Bar. Each huge bar makes about 1 cup of chopped pieces. Since these were for donation, I used 2 tsp of vanilla extract, however, if you are on a banana craze you can make them with 1/4 cup of banana liqueur instead. The recipe states that it makes 2 dz cookies, but I ended up with over 3 dz. Guess it depends on how large you want your cookies.
Banana Crunch Cookies
adapted from The Sophisticated Cookie.
1 1/2 cups chopped Nestle Crunch Bar
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed ripe banana (not over ripe)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/4 cup banana liqueur
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together the flour and the baking powder and set aside. In another bowl, beat together the vegetable oil, extract (or liqueur) and sugar until smooth. Add egg and beat again for 30 seconds until blended.
Fold the dry mixture into the wet until no dry streaks remain. Stir in the mashed banana and then the chopped crunch bar pieces. Once completely mixed, drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Put cookies in oven to bake until done, which takes about 10-12 minutes. Cookies are done when edges and bottom are slightly browned. Remove cookies and let rest on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Then transfer to rack to finish cooling.
**LAST YEAR:Altoid Chocolate Mint Brownies**
