Brown Sugar Banana Cookies with Rye

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Thin and chewy brown sugar cookies filled with sweet banana and nutty rye flour and rolled in crunchy sugar.

I realize, as I am writing this blog post, that the past few new recipes over here have been very banana-centric. This was not planned, so I apologize for the banana overload, but when you’ve got good recipes, you share them regardless of the ingredient overlap. If you’re like me, you always have ripe bananas hanging out so you can never have too many banana baking options.

I started brainstorming this recipe a couple of weeks ago with a very specific cookie in mind. My favorite part of any loaf of banana bread is the sticky, caramelized top layer created after a loaf of banana bread hangs out for a day or so, but if you’re looking for a banana cookie recipe, most of them are very fluffy and cakey. I wanted a banana cookie that mimicked that dense, sticky banana bread vibe—thin, with crispy edges and a chewy middle, and friends, we got it.

how to make brown sugar banana cookies

I started this recipe by riffing on a Sarah Kieffer sugar cookie recipe. Sarah is the queen of “pan-banging cookies”, with their thin, ripply edges so of course I used one of her recipes as my base.

I added in banana (obviously) and went for 100% brown sugar for extra caramelization, plus I added some rye flour to add a nutty depth. (If you don’t have rye flour, you could sub in any whole grain flour you’d like—spelt, whole wheat, buckwheat, etc—or you could just replace the rye flour with more all purpose flour). The recipe also includes fresh vanilla bean flakes, and an egg yolk and molasses for added moisture. The results are perfect—crispy, crackly, sugar-flecked edges with gooey, brown sugar banana centers.

Brown Sugar Banana Cookies
Yield 12 large cookies
Author Anna Ramiz
Prep time
20 Min
Cook time
15 Min
Total time
35 Min

Brown Sugar Banana Cookies

With crispy edges and chewy middles, these brown sugar cookies are specked with nutty rye flour and sweet banana.

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (30g) rye flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup [2 sticks | 227 g] unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cup [350 g] dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoon molasses
  • 1 medium ripe banana, mashed (100 g)
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 1/2 cup [100 g] granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, rye flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine softened butter and brown sugar. Cream on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy.
  4. Add the molasses, ripe banana, egg yolk, and scraped vanilla bean and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes more, until mixture is well combined.
  5. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until dough is smooth and no clumps remain. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  6. Scoop the cookie dough into 2 oz balls and roll each ball in granulated sugar. Arrange on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving lots of space between each cookie.
  7. Bake for 8 minutes and then remove the cookie sheets from the oven and bang them on the counter 2-3 times to settle them down. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for another 3-5 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers are dry. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan.

Notes

If you'd like to chill the cookie dough, simply scoop the dough and arrange them on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for up to 24 hours. Wait and roll the cookies in the sugar until just before baking. Keep an eye on them while baking, you may need to add an extra minute or two to the baking time for cold dough.

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Earl Grey and Cardamom Banana Bread

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A floral spin on the classic banana bread. This thick, moist banana bread is filled with bright citrus zest, herbal earl grey tea, and cardamom.

Well, it’s winter. As I’m writing this, my weather app is telling me that it is currently 3° F outside and tomorrow the high is 0° F. ZERO. I’m still working on wrapping my little Florida head around this whole sub-zero winter weather. I’ve discovered that as long as you bundle up really well and spend most of the time indoors, it’s not terrible. I also have found that I love the sparkly blanket of snow that covers the ground and even the big flakes that fall from the sky every few days. And I’ve also discovered that a thick, warm loaf of banana bread makes it a lot better.

I’m always looking for ways to slightly fancy up the classic banana bread. I want to add subtle flavors that will add depth and interest, without completely changing the tried and true banana bread that I know and love. This little flavor riff is a real winner. I know this because normally, when I play with banana bread, Martin’s response is always that “it’s good” and he “really likes it” but he still “just prefers the regular banana bread”. But not with this one! I made it a couple of times, tweaking the recipe slightly each time, until on this current iteration, Martin decided that it was his “favorite banana bread I’ve ever made”. So there you go. It’s a raging success.

how to make earl grey and cardamom banana bread

This is my basic banana bread recipe, because if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

We start by creaming butter with sugar and brown sugar, but this time, we’re also adding a smattering of orange zest, a fair amount of ground cardamom, and dried earl grey tea. (Just buy a box of earl grey and slice open the tea bags to get loose ground tea). We’re going to add all of these flavor components in this first step because creaming any sort of flavor additive (like zest, or extract) allows for the oils in them to coat the fat in the butter resulting in a more assertive and evenly-distributed flavor.

When the butters, sugars, and aromatics are thick and creamy, we’ll add mashed, ripe bananas, egg yolks, vanilla, and sour cream (or yogurt) for extra moisture. Then we add our dry ingredients—flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until we have a thick, smooth batter.

Finally, we whip our egg whites. Whipping egg whites and then folding them gently into the batter will create more rise and leavening in our bread.

A little science lesson:

Rise in baked goods comes from three different sources: air, steam, and chemical leaveners (like baking powder and soda). In this recipe, we use both chemical leaveners, but the baking soda’s main job is to react with and balance the acidic ingredients in the recipe (bananas and sour cream). The baking powder is there to actually help the bread rise. By creaming the butter, we are incorporating air into the batter and coating each of the sugar granules in fat, suspending them in the batter. Then, when the bread is baking and the sugar begins to dissolve, there will be steam released that will also aid in rising. So by folding in whipped egg whites, we are adding yet another layer of leavening (air and steam) which will leave us with a final product that is both hefty and dense (like the banana breads we know and love), but also a light with a finer crumb.

After folding in the egg whites, we transfer the batter to a loaf pan, sprinkle on a layer of crunchy demerara sugar and bake it off. Cooling the banana bread completely in the pan will help form that sticky top layer, which is the very best part in my opinion. Smear thick slices with Kerrygold butter and a little sprinkle of Maldon, curl up on your couch, and embrace all of the coziness you can in this frigid winter season.