It’s the FINAL day of AK Cookie Week 2024 and yes, I saved the best for last. This *might* just be my favorite cookie recipe I’ve ever made, which is saying something because I have over 50 on my site.
I tested these insanely delicious salted brown butter banana chocolate chunk cookies not once, not twice, but literally 5 times because I knew they were going to be something special. And OMG. Truly exceptional is the only way to describe them. They have those perfect edges with a fudgy, chewy middle, and pack in the flavor from caramel-like brown butter, sweet banana, and rich dark chocolate in every bite.
These cookies were love at first bite — my whole team and family instantly became obsessed. If these don’t win your cookie contest this year, I don’t know what will!
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Ingredients in these banana chocolate chunk cookies
These deliciously fudgy brown butter banana cookies use simple ingredients and pack delicious flavor. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Butter: you already know we’re browning salted butter to give the cookies that rich, nutty, caramel-like flavor.
- Banana: you’ll add real mashed banana right to the dough for moisture and sweetness.
- Sugar: we’re using a mix of granulated sugar and brown sugar to sweeten the cookies.
- Flaxseed meal: just a bit of flaxseed meal helps the cookies baked up without an egg. Don’t skip it!
- Flour: you’ll need regular all-purpose flour to bake these cookies.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the vanilla extract, baking soda, a little cinnamon, and salt.
- Chocolate: chop up a dark chocolate bar to get those beautiful, melty chocolate chunks. I like Lindt 70% dark chocolate!
- To garnish: as always, sprinkle your cookies with a little flaky sea salt for that sweet and salty magic.
Wait, there’s no egg?
You read that correctly! The combination of mashed banana and flaxseed meal acts as the binder in these cookies. So they’re completely egg-free!
Can I make them gluten-free or dairy-free?
- To make gluten-free: please note that I have NOT tested these banana chocolate chunk cookies using a gluten-free flour, but I suggest trying it with a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour if you’d like! Let me know in the comments if you give it a shot.
- To make dairy-free: use a vegan / dairy-free butter instead — you’ll simple melt it instead of browning it as vegan butter does not brown.
Make these brown butter banana cookies your own
I love the puddles of dark chocolate paired with the sweet banana flavor in this recipe, but you could also:
Glorious banana chocolate chunk cookies in 5 steps
- Brown the butter. Start but browning your salted butter until it’s amber in color and smelly nice and nutty. Scrape ALL of the brown bits into a bowl to cool. Get my tips for browning butter here!
- Mix the wet ingredients. Mix all of your wet ingredients in a large bowl until the mixture looks like caramel.
- Finish the dough. Add the dry ingredients right into your bowl and mix until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Time to chill! That’s right, you’ll chill the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours before baking.
- Bake, cool & devour. Scoop your cold dough into balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake at 375 degrees (this temp is important!) Pull them out right when the edges started turning golden brown, then sprinkle with sea salt and cool before devouring.
Don’t forget my cookie-baking tips
Reminder that you’ll find all of my best tips & tricks for making perfect cookies in the Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking e-book! A few key takeaways for these banana chocolate chunk cookies:
- Substitute at your own risk. Please be sure to follow the recipe as written unless substitutes are noted in the notes section of the recipe. Changing ingredients will likely change the texture and/or flavor of the cookies, so do so at your own risk.
- Use room temp ingredients. After browning your butter, set it aside until it’s cooled to room temperature so that it doesn’t affect the texture of the cookies.
- Use fresh baking soda. Make sure your baking soda is fresh to ensure that these cookies bake up properly.
- Measure your ingredients correctly. In this recipe, it’s VERY important to measure out the mashed banana instead of just mashing and using 1 full banana. I weighed the ingredients for these cookies, as you’ll see in the full recipe below. If you don’t have a scale, be sure to use this method for measuring flour.
- CHILL the dough. I know it seems tedious, but you really do want to chill your dough for at least 2 hours so that they cookies do not come out flat!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store these brown butter banana cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- To freeze: you can actually freeze the cookie dough OR the freshly baked cookies to enjoy later! Get all of my tips and tricks for freezing cookies here.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these banana chocolate chunk cookies! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
The
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Truly Exceptional Salted Brown Butter Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The most incredible salted banana chocolate chunk cookies baked with rich brown butter, real mashed banana, and puddles of dark chocolate in every bite. These might be my new all-time favorite cookies, and for good reason! They’re perfectly chewy and sweet, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt takes them to the next level. Chocolate banana heaven!
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113g) salted butter
- ⅓ cup (95g) mashed banana (from 1 medium ripe banana) YOU MUST MEASURE THIS OUT
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (53g) packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal (DO NOT SKIP THIS!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 ⅔ cup (200g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3.5 ounces dark chocolate (Lindt 70% dark chocolate melts beautifully in these!), coarsely chopped into chunks
- To garnish:
- Flaky sea salt (I like Maldon)
Instructions
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Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk constantly; the butter will begin to crackle, then eventually foam. After a few minutes, the butter will begin to turn a golden amber color. As soon as the butter turns an amber brown brown and gives off a nutty aroma, 5 to 8 minutes total, remove from the heat and transfer to a medium bowl to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. MAKE SURE YOU SCRAPE ALL THE BROWN BITS INTO THE BOWL WITH A RUBBER SPATULA! Every little yummy bit counts!
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Mix the wet ingredients: Measure out ⅓ cup (95g) mashed banana. If you have excess mashed banana, you can discard it. It is important to not use any more than ⅓ cup or these cookies will not bake up properly. (Trust me, I tested the recipe 5 times!) After it is mashed, beat the banana in the bowl with a fork for 30 seconds until virtually no lumps remain. Next, add in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flaxseed meal and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth and the mixture resembles caramel.
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Add the dry ingredients: In the same bowl with the wet ingredients, add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the dough with a wooden spoon until well combined. Next, gently fold in the chocolate chunks.
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Chill the dough: Cover the bowl with the dough with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge to chill for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
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Once ready to bake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. (Again, I want to make sure we know the proper temp is 375 degrees F.!) 🙂Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Bake: Once the oven is preheated, make your dough balls (you want to have cold dough going onto the baking sheet). Measure about 1 ½-2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball, placing dough balls at least 3 inches apart. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until the edges of the cookies are lightly golden brown. Mine were perfect at 10 minutes every time. Remove from the oven, immediately sprinkle with sea salt, then allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
To freeze: you can actually freeze the cookie dough OR the freshly baked cookies to enjoy later! Get all of my tips and tricks for freezing cookies here.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats