As you may already know, Tas and I made an incredibly hard decision to close the doors to our beloved bakery in Toronto, Moo. I’m still in pain. It will always hurt I think. But I’m not about to tell you a sob story. I’m going to share with you a recipe for one of my favorite cookies that we made and sold in the shop. The Banana Chocolate Chip Cookie.
This cookie is kind of like a muffin top. It bakes more cakey than chewy. It’s time to dig into your freezer and pull out those black bananas that you’ve been saving for a rainy day. The darker the better here. When you finish making the dough, eat half of it with a spoon and then scoop the rest. When I write in the recipe to allow the cookies to rest and freeze for at least 12 hours, I mean it. Don’t mess with this. It helps the butter to harden and the gluten in the flour to rest. This allows for a tender cookie. Just believe me. I’ve made enough cookies in my life and in this bakery to know that it makes a difference. I use glucose
Enjoy it and… I know, I miss Moo too. =(
MOO’S BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
MAKES 28-30 LARGE COOKIES
THE THINGS
240 g (3-4 bananas), peeled, super ripe bananas, defrosted if frozen
480 g (3 2/3 cup plus 1 tbsp) unbleached all-purpose flour
5 g (1 tsp) baking soda
5 g (1 tsp) baking powder
6 g (1 tsp) salt
218 g (1 stick plus 7 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
415 g (2 cups) brown sugar
58 g (1/3 cup) glucose
15 g ( 1 ½ tbsp) sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature
10g (2 tsp) vanilla extract
200 g (1 ¼ cup) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
28-30 beautiful banana chips
THE WAY
You want to have super ripe bananas. I keep over ripe bananas in the freezer and defrost them when I want to use them. Peel them and weight them with the liquid and all. You should have 240 g of banana “mush”. It’s about 3 ½ bananas worth. Puree the banana using a stick blender or a stand blender until smooth. No chunks at all! Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy. This will take about 6-8 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every so often. Add the glucose and cream again for about 1 minute. Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix on low for a few seconds. Once it looks like the eggs are incorporated, turn the mixer up to medium and cream for about a minute. Add the banana puree and mix on low until everything is just combined. It’s ok if it looks like the mixture begins to separate a bit. Add the flour mixture and turn the mixer on to low. Once the dough starts to come together add the mini chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. Don’t over mix the dough! THIS COOKIE DOUGH WILL LOOK LIKE A SUPER THICK CAKE BATTER. THAT’S NORMAL!
Using a 2 oz ice cream disher with release, scoop the dough onto 2 parchment lined sheet pans. You can place the scooped dough close together because you are not baking it at this point. Don’t try to lift of the cookies off the parchment. Where you scoop it out is where it will stay because of how soft the dough is. Once all the dough is scooped, gently press a banana chip onto the tops of each. Place the sheet pans in the freezer for 1 hour. Once the dough is more solid, wrap the sheet pans with plastic wrap and place them back in the freezer for at least another 11 hours. Trust me on this. Let the dough rest. Cookie dough can be kept frozen for up to 6 months in sealed zip-lock bags.
Pre-heat the oven to 325˚F and position the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake the cookies on parchment or silpats, at least 2 inches apart to allow for spread. Bake for 18 minutes until lightly golden on top and browned around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Enjoy!