Banana Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Banana Brownies

I saw these cookies on Cathy's blog, Noble Pig and HAD to make them.  They combine one of my favorite things--banana with one of Kevin's favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles!  Kevin does not like a snickerdoodle that is crunchy or turns hard after one day.  These are the answer to that problem.  Add banana!  It's a subtle flavor, but they taste great.  I served them at a church potluck and they disappeared quickly.

Banana Snickerdoodles, from Cathy at Noble Pig, adapted from Going Beserk

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

1  1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening (192 grams)

1  1/2 cups granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies

2 large eggs

1 ripe banana (I used 2 small--about 1/2 cup banana)

ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs and banana.  Mix together.  Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Once the dough is mixed it will be very wet.  Use a tablespoon or tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to drop balls of dough into the cinnamon-sugar.  (about 1/2 cup sugar to 1 teaspoon cinnamon).  The dough becomes very easy to work with once it's dipped in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Roll into balls and bake on parchment lined baking sheets at 400 degrees for 9 minutes (9 was too much to me--7 was perfect!--Katrina)  Cool cookies on wire rack.  Store in an airtight container and they will stay soft for several days.  (Ours did not last that long to find out!)

You can smell them now, can't you?

And normally I would post something I just BARELY saw on someone else's blog quite so soon, but these went well with the banana theme here today and they are fabulous brownies!  Check them out over at Cookie Madness.  She got the recipe from Gloria who won third place at the Minnesota State Fair for these brownies.  They are SO fudgy (not light and cakey as you would expect from banana!).  Again, the banana flavor is very subtle, but make these brownies have that "hmm, what's in there?" taste and quality.  If you love brownies, you NEED to try these.  One of the keys to a great, fudgy brownie is letting them cool completely AND chilling them in the refrigerator before cutting.  LOVED these!

Hello, Fudgy, Yummy Brownies!  Ooh, ooh, ooh.   (That's supposed to sound like a monkey, get it--banana brownies, monkeys.....eh, sigh.  Okay, I'm a little weird, but you still should try these brownies!)

Gloria’s Minnesota State Fair Chocolate-Banana Brownies, adapted by Gloria from a recipe of Anna's at Cookie Madness

5 oz semi sweet chocolate (or a little less that 1 cup chips) (I used Hershey's semi-sweet chips)
1 oz bittersweet chocolate (or 3 tablespoons chips) (I used Ghirardelli 72% cacao chips)
6 tablespoons salted butter (I used unsalted and added some salt as Anna suggested)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 t vanilla (optional) – Gloria leaves it out, anna added ½ tsp
1/2 of a small banana-well mashed
3/4 cup sifted flour (3 ounces)
1 T unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray cooking spray on bottom only of an 8 inch metal pan. Gloria noted that for the fair, she used non-stick foil to line the pan. (I used the non-stick foil for ease of removing the brownies from the pan.)

Mix flour, cocoa, and salt together and set aside.

Combine sugar, eggs, and banana in a separate bowl-stir until combined. I did this with a fork.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium low heat, then reduced heat to low and add 5 oz and 1 oz of chocolates. Cook and stir over low until smooth. Cool 5 minutes.

Add chocolate to sugar egg/banana mixture-stir until combined.

Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.

Fold in that last 1/2 cup chips and nuts. Bake 35-40 min, check at 35 (Anna’s note: I baked a full 45 min And I only baked mine for 35--so start checking with toothpick at 30 minutes!--Katrina)

Cool completely before cutting. Anna’s note: I like to chill before cutting.  (I second that motion!--Katrina)

*whispers---You're gonna like these!

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And now, I will from time to time post random pictures from our trip to see my brother and his family in Indiana last month.  Monica sent me a CD with all the pictures she took from her camera and darn-there's some good ones and I have to say between my brother and I, we have some CUTE kids (mine are cuter, of course. hehe)

This is so sad, Sam got to/had to go to Holiday World with us and we dragged him around to do all kinds of fun things all day.  I know, you're feeling really, really sad for him, especially after seeing this picture.  Let's all play the world's smallest violin for him. 

Okay, really, Sam didn't get to have nearly as much fun as the bigger kids and he really was a trooper all day!

He did have some fun in the water that day!

I will feature a different kid on different posts.