Little Brother’s birthday is coming up this week and we had a low-key celebration last weekend. The emphasis was on low-key with thoughtful presents and sharing a meal at home with dishes he enjoys. I was planning on making a layer cake with some ripe bananas. As always, I have a few banana recipes on my to-cook list so rather than surprising him with a strawberry banana cake, I asked him to pick between Banana Bread from Baking Illustrated, Dan Lepard’s Fudgy Banana Cookies, or Heidi Swanson’s Baked Oatmeal. I really shouldn’t be surprise that he chose Fudgy Banana Cookies. Who needs birthday cake when you can have a whole batch of birthday cookies all to yourself?
This is an intensely chocolaty cookie moist from lots of mashed bananas and toothsome from rolled oats. The crackly appearance with a blanket of icing sugar against the dark chocolate background is especially striking. I am surprise that such soft and moist texture was achieved without any eggs. The sweetness is restrained. Chocolate and banana share the spotlight of starring flavour. The dough is wet compare to most drop cookie recipes and it must be shaped after long chill in the fridge. I portioned the dough using a 2 tablespoon size cookie scoop. As long as the rolled oats are evenly distributed, the baked cookies would spread evenly with good height.
I was very tempted to tweak this recipe with addition of toasted nuts, pretzels, chocolate chips, and especially crushed banana chips. I resisted the temptation because I didn’t want these cookies to be over-the-top rich nor was I sure how sweet the end result would be. After all, there is equal parts butter : sugar : flour+cocoa not to mention the naturally sweet mashed bananas and icing sugar crust. Now that I’ve tasted the cookies, I feel confident to tweak the recipe next time.
Little Brother and I are only 20 months apart in age. We are close in the way that we’re both painfully aware the people we call family is getting fewer with passing years. Accumulated over years of living under the same roof, we know what makes each other tick like no other. At the same time, we also know each other’s likes and dislikes, even the ones we consider too childish to reveal to the world. This bond we share is one I cherish over many other things. It’s all too easy to let life pass me by without telling the people who matter to me how much I really care. Making these fudgy banana cookies is my way of telling Little Brother how much I care.
