Frosted Banana Bread Cookies are soft, chewy and topped with a delicious brown sugar frosting. They taste just like your favorite banana bread!
A couple of weeks ago, I hit the mother lode. See, my parents sent over two bags filled with just about every recipe that my grandmother had ever collected or created. And she collected tons — some went back to the 1950’s and earlier. There were even a few of my mom’s recipes in there. Believe me, I was in recipe Nirvana.
For almost an entire weekend, I just sat and sifted through just about every scrap of paper in the collection over and over again. I was definitely in my happy place, even though I don’t think my own family really understood. But, if you’re a recipe collector, or you love old family recipes, you’ll understand.
And somewhere in that gigantic pile, I found the recipe for these incredibly delicious banana bread cookies. The original name for them was just written as banana cookies, but they really do taste exactly like banana bread. So, that’s what I’m calling them.
The thing about so many old family recipes is that the instructions aren’t always that clear. Know what I mean? And, you may have to tweak the ingredients slightly to work with what you have.
Luckily, this cookie recipe was pretty clear, and I only changed a couple of things. I used butter instead of shortening, and I added cinnamon — just a touch. It’s an easy recipe, and the cookies take just 10 minutes to bake.
The cookies are done when the edges are slightly brown and firm. And after they cool, it’s time to frost them!
The frosting is super easy to make, and it’s seriously good. It’s just butter, brown sugar, vanilla and cream mixed with powdered sugar.
The original recipe didn’t even specify how much powdered sugar to add. It just said to add enough to make the frosting spreadable. So I added about a half of a cup, and this worked perfectly! If you want thinner or thicker frosting, you can just adjust the amount of powdered sugar.
Actually, the cookies are perfectly delicious without the frosting, so you could even skip that part. But, I really hope you don’t, because the cookies are AhMAYzing with it!
How to Make Frosted Banana Bread Cookies
Soft, chewy banana cookies topped with brown sugar frosting. They taste just like your favorite banana bread!
- 3/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 medium mashed bananas
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees
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In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar
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Add the bananas, egg and vanilla extract, and beat with an electric mixer until combined
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Add the baking soda, cinnamon and sea salt, and gradually mix in the flour
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Drop by rounded teaspoonfulls onto greased cookie sheets, and bake for 10 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown and firm
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Remove from oven, and allow to cool completely
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In a medium saucepan, heat the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar until boiling
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Remove from heat, add the vanilla, and gradually stir in the powdered sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency
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Frost cooled cookies with thin layer of frosting, and store in refrigerator or a cool place
This recipe make about 50 of these little banana bread cookies, which seems like a lot. But trust me, it’s not. These babies go fast!
This is probably the tastiest way ever to use up ripe bananas, so if you have any, you’ve got the perfect excuse to make these. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Happy Baking,
I love banana cookies! They are so soft!
These are super soft, and we loved them!
Family recipes are the best! I’m working my way through my father in law’s recipe stash! Anyway, your cookies look absolutely divine…I am positive they would be a hit at my house!
Thanks, Michelle! I can’t wait to try more of my grandma’s recipes. 🙂
These cookies look SO good!! My kids will really enjoy them!!
My kids went through these in no time!
Yum! These remind me of my husband’s grandmother’s banana cookies, which sadly the recipe was handed down to me. I can’t wait to surprise him with these!
My kid would go crazy over these! These frosted banana bread cookies are so delicious!
I’m crazy about all things banana bread!! These look insanely good!
Hmm…I haven’t ever made banana cookies, but this would be great when I have those two overripe bananas that no one wants to eat.
That is so awesome! I have some recipe boxes that belonged to my Grandmother and I just love flipping through all of the handwritten recipes! So glad that you got all of those! These cookies look perfect!
Thanks, Angie! I’m having a blast with those old recipes. 🙂
Your delicious cookies need to be in my cookie jar! I really appreciate you sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday, hope you have a great day and hope to see you again soon!
Miz Helen