Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I've made banana chocolate chip cookies before but when I saw a recipe for peanut butter banana cookies, I was intrigued. I love peanut butter and bananas, especially on toast or in a crepe with nutella. Definitely my mana! These cookies definitely did not disappoint. They were chewy, soft and redolent with the taste of bananas. I put in one and a half cups of peanut butter but the taste was still quite subtle. I think I would try putting in even more peanut butter next time to bring out the peanut butter flavour even more. The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of butter but I substituted 1/4 of applesauce for the butter in order to make it slightly healthier. I also found the cookies a tad too sweet so I would reduce the sugar by half a cup next time but that's my personal taste as I don't like things to be overly sweet. I added chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips to the batter to add more texture and make the cookies even better. I only added the pecans to half the batter as Tombee doesn't like pecans but the recipe below is for the full recipe. You could add almonds, peanuts, butterscotch chips or even white chocolate chips if you want. The sky is the limit when it comes to what tastes good! I got about 80 cookies out of the recipe but I did make mine only about the size of a tablespoon as these spread quite a bit. I baked mine for 15 minutes to retain a soft and chewy texture but if you want a firmer cookie, bake for about 17-18 minutes. The cookies do set after they have cooled, so don't be worried when you take them out of the oven and they seem like they aren't cooked yet.




Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies adapted from Food Geeks

Ingredients
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 medium extra ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, applesauce, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
3. Peel the bananas, break into smaller sections and drop into the mixture; mix well (some small banana chunks are okay).
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.
6. Add flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and beat just until combined.
7. Add pecans and chocolate chips and mix together until pecans and chocolate chips are fully incorporated into the batter. Use a cookie scoop or drop by the spoonful onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 15 minutes - they will not be golden brown when removed from oven. As they set they will turn slightly firm.
9. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for five minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Pour a glass of milk and eat cookies with relish while still warm, making sure to lick fingers of melted chocolate.