This irresistible banana cookies recipe makes soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies loaded with sweet banana flavor and topped with creamy salted caramel frosting. It’s the best excuse to use up those ripe bananas on the counter! Make them with one bowl and easy pantry ingredients.
If you have more elderly bananas on your hands, don’t toss them out just yet! Make these banana bread brownies and chewy banana oat cookies, next.
In my house, no old bananas get left behind, and these banana cookies are the easiest way to use up ripe bananas! They have the most irresistible cakey texture and sweet flavor, like banana cake baked into a cookie. The recipe uses simple ingredients, and I can have a batch of soft-baked cookies out of the oven in 30 minutes. Here are more reasons to love them:
- Make them in one bowl. These banana cookies need only one bowl. Since I make them as drop cookies, there’s no need to chill, cut, or shape the cookie dough either. They’re one of my favorite last-minute cookie recipes!
- Salted caramel frosting. The creamy salted caramel topping is super easy to make with pantry ingredients, and falls somewhere between frosting and icing. As it sets, the outside gets a delicious crust, giving way to a soft, sugary inside.
- Perfect for all occasions. These banana cookies are perfect for any season, and just about any occasion. Dunk them into a glass of milk or a cozy mug of coffee or tea, or gift them at Mother’s Day or Easter.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Since bananas are widely available year-round in the US, that means this banana cookies recipe never goes out of season! You need just 7 ingredients (plus salt) to make these easy cookies from scratch. Check out my ingredient notes here and refer to the printable recipe card for a full list with measurements.
- Butter – At room temperature.
- Brown Sugar – I love the caramelized flavor and extra moisture that comes with brown sugar, but granulated sugar works, too.
- Egg – Also at room temperature.
- Vanilla – Make sure to use real vanilla extract.
- Bananas – Overripe bananas are best whether you’re baking cookies or banana bread. It’s the perfect excuse to mash up those spotty bananas in the fruit bowl.
- Baking Soda and Salt – Check the date on your baking soda to make sure it’s not expired.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is the best choice for these cookies.
Since there’s no chilling required for this banana cookies recipe, the cookies are ready for the oven in no time. Simply mix the dough, drop the cookies onto a baking sheet, and bake following the steps here. Scroll down to the recipe card after the post for printable instructions.
- Make the cookie dough. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Add the baking soda and salt, and finally, mix in the flour to form the dough.
- Scoop the cookies. Next, use a spoon or a cookie scoop to drop portions of cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will need to cool completely before you frost them.
The Best Salted Caramel Frosting
My absolute favorite way to finish these banana cookies is smeared with rich and creamy salted caramel frosting. The banana and caramel combo always reminds me of Bananas Foster (like my Bananas Foster banana bread and Bananas Foster cookies). To make the frosting:
- Make the caramel. Follow the directions to make a quick batch of caramel on the stovetop. You can also do this in the microwave following my recipe for microwave caramel sauce.
- Add powdered sugar. Let the caramel cool for a few minutes, and whisk in the powdered sugar. Keep stirring the icing while it cools. After 15 minutes, it’s ready to spread over the cookies.
If you’d prefer to leave off the frosting and enjoy these banana cookies as-is, that’s fine, too! You could also try another frosting or icing. See below for easy variations and more recipe tips.
Tips and Variations
- Don’t overmix the cookie dough. Like most baked goods, too much mixing overdevelops the gluten in cookie dough. This can affect the texture of these banana cookies, making them dense and tough. Only fold the flour into the wet ingredients until the dough is just combined.
- Let the cookies cool. If you’re planning on frosting your banana cookies, make sure to budget enough time for the cookies to cool to room temperature. Otherwise, you risk melting the frosting if you add it to a warm cookie.
- Banana chocolate chip cookies. Add semisweet, dark, milk, or white chocolate chips to the cookie dough.
- Peanut butter banana cookies. Drizzle the tops of these banana cookies with melted peanut butter or frost them with the peanut butter frosting from my banana cupcakes.
- Different frosting. These would also taste delicious frosted with my brown sugar frosting or creamy chocolate buttercream. Tangy cream cheese frosting would make these cookies taste like a banana cheesecake!
- Add nuts. Make banana nut cookies with chopped pecans or walnuts for extra crunch.
- At room temperature. Store these banana cookies airtight on the countertop for up to 3 days, or up to 5 days in the fridge.
- Freeze. You can freeze the cookies before or after baking for up to 3 months. I like to pre-freeze the cookies (or cookie dough balls) on a baking sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag. Thaw the baked cookies at room temperature, or bake the cookie dough from frozen.
More Banana Recipes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This irresistible banana cookies recipe makes soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookies loaded with sweet banana flavor and topped with creamy salted caramel frosting. Make them with one bowl and easy pantry ingredients!
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
For the Frosting
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar together for 2 minutes. Add in the egg, vanilla and bananas and mix for an additional minute, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the baking soda and salt until incorporated.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the flour, mixing until just combined.
- Using a medium (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop the dough on to the baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes or until the centers are set.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting
- In a medium saucepan melt the butter, sugar, cream and together over medium-low heat. Bring the mixture to a full boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove the pan from heat, stir in the salt, and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in the powdered sugar and then cool for an additional 15 minutes, whisking every so often.
- Spread the frosting on the cookies.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 202
- Sugar: 21.2 g
- Sodium: 131 mg
- Fat: 8.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.5 g
- Protein: 1.6 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
These were not good at all. The cookies were more like a dense cake and took almost 20 minutes to bake. And they didn’t taste sweet at all, just like flour. And the frosting tasted horribly salty and not at all like caramel. Overall completed disappointed and would strongly recommend finding a different recipe.
Just made these this morning. Delicious! I will definitely be using this as an alternative to making banana bread with browning bananas. They would probably also be good with some cinnamon sugar dusted on top.
Where do I add the salt in the frosting?
That frosting looks divine!
this recipe is shit. i followed it exactly and it tasted the way my newborn childs diaper smells. delete it;.
Do you think the dough would freeze well?
Bananas for banana desserts! I used to hate them for some reason, and now I can’t get enough. That frosting tho. (it’s obligatory to spell it “tho” when used in this context)
This is a new one for me, I bet they are really good.
Both cookies and frosting sound so lovely!
Caramel makes my world go round! (not to mention my butt….bleh), I’m going to include these on my dessert appetizer platter next week at the annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party I’m hosting. Guests will swoon I’m sure and I will send to your blog. And I’m giving away the same $200 artisan wood platter on my blog right now!!!