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Winter weekends in the Midwest tend to get a bit monotonous, what with the cold weather, wind and snow making it hard to do much else besides run errands, go to the grocery store, hit up the gym, and repeat.

Granted, I am a cold-weather WUSS, but still.

I’ve always preferred the summer when Ben and I are able to explore the great outdoors, take long walks, and/or camp out at the nearest patio sipping ice-cold brewskies until the sun goes down.

Well, boring winter weekends be damned. Last night Ben brought the outdoors in, and in the spirit of summer roasted us wieners and s’mores over a crackling campfire. It was amazing! Afterwards we watched Anonymous. Which was…not. Kind of confusing, and the ick factor at the end of the movie was, well, icky.

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While there were errands to be run today, I said to heck with it and decided to do something fun like make a hot mess out of my kitchen bake a special treat instead. :)

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I’ve been thinking about other pastries that I could turn into cookies since making Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies a few weeks ago, and a quick glance at the brown bananas in my fruit basket quickly showed me the way. I’d make Banana Bread Cookies, of course! Fluffy, moist, cinnamon laced banana bread, in a handheld cookie!

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But I wouldn’t stop there though, oh no. I’d go ahead do the damn thing and add brown butter to the batter…and the icing on top. MUWAHAHA!

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Brown butter almost tastes like butterscotch, and made my Brown Butter Banana Bread Cookies with Brown Butter Icing OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious. Luckily it’s really simple to make!

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Start by placing a stick of butter in a skillet over medium heat.

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After the butter melts, start swirling the pan and let the butter “cook” until it turns a golden brown color. You’ll be able to smell a caramel-like scent when it starts to turn. FANTASTIC!

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Immediately remove the skillet from the heat, and pour the butter into a large mixing bowl. Time to make some cookies. Mix the butter with some sugar until combined. NOTE: the butter and sugar won’t turn light and fluffy like it does when creaming together room temperature butter and sugar. Instead the sugar will stay kind of granular, which is ok.

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Add an egg to the butter and sugar, and cream until smooth.

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Next get your bananas ready. You’ll need a cup of mashed bananas, which is about 3 small ones. Mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth.

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Next, mix the mashed bananas with baking soda, which will help the cookies rise.

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Finally, add the bananas and yummy vanilla extract in and mix to combine.

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In a bowl next door, combine flour, salt and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined between each batch.

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Drop the cookies on a baking sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until beautifully golden brown and fragrant.

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While the cookies cool, whisk together more brown butter and powdered sugar to form an icing, then drizzle it over the cooled cookies. Have a few…I won’t tell!

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Brown Butter Banana Bread Cookies

Description

Brown Butter Banana Bread Cookies are the best of both worlds — banana bread meets cookie! Brown butter makes them even more irresistible! 

Ingredients

Makes 30 cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 small bananas)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups of flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • For the icing:
    • 1/4 cup butter
    • 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. When the butter is completely melted, swirl the skillet until the butter becomes a light caramel brown color, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately remove the skillet from the heat, and pour into a mixing bowl.
  2. Add the sugar to the brown butter and mix on low speed to start, then increase the speed and beat for one minute. (Mixture will not be light and fluffy.) Add in egg, and mix. Stir together mashed banana with baking soda and let sit for 2 minutes. Add mashed banana and vanilla to the bowl and mix.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing just until combined before adding the next batch.
  4. Drop batter onto a parchment paper lined, or non-stick sprayed, baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown around the edges. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  5. For the icing: Follow the directions for browning the butter in step 1. Whisk in powdered sugar, and drizzle icing over cooled cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes

Slightly adapted from Simply Recipes

This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.

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These Brown Butter Banana Bread Cookies cookies are pillowy soft and sweet, and taste like the best banana bread you ever had, with a little something extra. 

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The brown butter icing takes them completely over the top. It tastes almost caramely-butterscotchy. So outrageous.

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And, if my Dad nearly hyperventilating when I stopped by my parent’s house this afternoon to drop a few off is any indication, they make great cookie gifts, too. ;)

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