Fudgy Banana Cocoa Cookies with Peanut Butter & Chocolate
Rich, fudgy, and ready in 30 minutes — these Peanut Butter Banana Cocoa Cookies are naturally vegan, loaded with chocolate chips, and on your table in under 30 minutes. 14 cookies, zero fuss.
Servings: 14 cookies
Calories: 198kcal
Ingredients
- 1 large ripe banana mashed
- ⅓ cup unsalted natural peanut butter
- ¾ cup dark brown or Muscovado sugar
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 350°F and lightly covering a baking sheet with non-stick spray or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, natural peanut butter, vanilla extract, coconut oil, and brown sugar until well combined. It’s okay if the banana still has some clumps. Set that aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. Combine the salt, cocoa powder, all-purpose flour, and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing with a spatula until your dough is uniform, and no visible white flour remains. It will take a minute for the flour and cocoa to start absorbing liquids, but you should end up with a shiny, soft dough. Then, add in the chocolate chips and mix until they’re uniformly incorporated. (I like to leave a few chocolate chips aside to add them to the very top of the cookies, but this is optional.)
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. This will help make it less sticky and give the cocoa and flour time to absorb more of the liquids.
- Once the dough has cooled in the fridge, use a spoon to separate it into 14 equal-sized balls (about 1 ½ tablespoons each). Place them on the baking sheet, press down with your clean hands until the desired width, and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. You’ll know the cookies are ready when the edges feel set, and the tops look matte. Note that the cookies will still feel very soft, but they will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest on the baking tray for 2 to 3 minutes. Then, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
~ For this recipe, it’s important to use fully natural peanut butter. This is because it includes the proper amount of natural oils to add hydration to the cookies. Make sure to stir the natural peanut butter well prior to using it, and not only include the oil layer you can often find on top. If you can't find an unsalted variety, reduce the amount of added salt to the recipe to ¼ teaspoon.
~ If you’re in a rush, you can skip chilling the dough. However, it may be a bit difficult to shape the dough into balls due to its initial stickiness. Slightly wet your hands or use an ice cream spoon to help yourself.
~ The cookies won’t really spread while baking, so make sure to flatten them into your preferred shape prior to putting them in the oven. The thinner and wider your cookies are, the crisper and less fudgy they will be.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 198kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 181mg | Potassium: 121mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g