Why you’ll love these cookies…
These brown butter banana bread cookies are the ultimate dessert mash-up. They’ve got everything you love about a chewy chocolate chunk cookie, but with all the cosy flavours of homemade banana bread.
They’re crisp around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, and packed with flavour. Every bite is loaded with nutty brown butter, sweet ripe banana, melty chunks of milk chocolate, and crunchy banana chips. If banana bread and a bakery-style cookie had a baby, this would be it.
The testing process
This recipe took me eight rounds of testing before I was finally happy with it. Getting the balance right was much harder than I expected! The first few versions were far too cakey, but I was determined to create a cookie with all the cosy flavours of banana bread and the texture of a chewy bakery-style cookie. Too much banana and they became soft and cake-like; too little and they just tasted like an ordinary chocolate chip cookie. It was a fine balance, but after eight batches (and a lot of cookie taste testing!), I finally landed on the perfect combination: cookies that genuinely taste like banana bread while still having crisp edges, chewy centres, and plenty of melty chocolate in every bite.
What makes these cookies irresistible!
The secret ingredient is the brown butter. Browning the butter transforms its flavour, giving it a rich, nutty, almost caramel-like taste that pairs perfectly with banana and chocolate. It’s a simple extra step, but it makes a huge difference. You’ll know it’s ready when the butter foams, the milk solids turn a deep golden brown, and your kitchen smells warm, nutty, and almost like toffee. Keep a close eye on it though—it can go from perfectly browned to burnt surprisingly quickly.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… the dough has to chill overnight. And yes, waiting is probably the hardest part of this recipe. Chilling the dough gives the flour time to hydrate and allows all those flavours to develop, while also stopping the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. The result? Thick, chewy cookies with incredible flavour. I promise they’re worth every minute of the wait.
My partner declared these the best cookies he’s ever eaten—and considering he lives with a Bake Off winner, he’s eaten a LOT of cookies! 🤣 I’m choosing to trust his judgement on this one.
Recipe FAQs:
As the butter melts, it will start to foam, making it a little tricky to see what’s happening underneath. Keep stirring or swirling the pan, and after a few minutes the foam will begin to settle. You’re looking for the milk solids at the bottom of the pan to turn a deep golden brown, and the butter should smell rich, nutty, and almost like toffee. Be careful not to have the heat up too high, you want the milk solids to get nice and toasty but not burn.
This step isn’t essential for the cookie flavour/texture but it does make it much easier to roll into balls if you do chill the dough a little first. Just chill the dough enough that it’s nice and easy to scoop and roll into balls.
Yes! This recipe really does benefit from an overnight chill, so I don’t recommend skipping it. Chilling the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate, the butter to firm back up, and the flavours to develop, resulting in cookies that are thick, chewy, and packed with flavour. Baking the dough straight away will give you flatter cookies that spread more in the oven and won’t have the same texture. A little patience goes a long way with this recipe!
No! Cook the cookies straight from frozen.
Storage:
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Brown Butter Banana Bread Cookies
Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle, and packed with flavour. Brown butter, melty chunks of milk chocolate, and crunchy banana chips in every bite.
Ingredients
- 130 g butter
- 150 g caster sugar
- 150 g brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200 g plain flour
- 200 g milk chocolate roughly chopped
- 100 g banana chips roughly chopped
- 100 g banana mashed (approx 1 small-medium banana)
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Place the butter into a thick bottomed pan over a low-medium heat until it has melted and starts to bubble and foam. Turn the temperature to low and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until all the milk solids get nice and toasty brown. You should see lots of brown crumb-looking bits at the bottom of the pan. It is best to do this low and slow (around 15 minutes) and don’t be shy, we really want to develop the flavour of the butter here. Once you have browned your butter tip it into a mixing bowl and allow it to cool to around room temp (it’s ok if it’s a little warm just not hot).
- Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or a wooden spoon, beat both the sugars into the browned butter.
- Beat in the egg until fully incorporated.
- Fold through the flour, baking powder and salt until just incorporated then mix in the roughly chopped chocolate, banana chips and smashed banana.
- The dough will be a little sticky at this point so place it in the fridge for around 30 minutes or until it has chilled enough to roll into balls. Roll the dough into 10 equal sized balls and place onto a tray lined with baking paper. Wrap the tray with glad wrap and pop into the freezer overnight.*
The following day
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan bake).
- Place the frozen cookie balls onto a large tray lined with baking paper (they will spread so make sure to give them space, you may need 2 trays)
- Bake the cookies for approximately 18 minutes or until they are golden and crispy around the edges.
- Allow to cool completely on the tray then enjoy! Although I am a big lover of eating cookies warm, these actually taste better once completely cooled! When warm the banana chips will be a little chewy however once cooled they go back to being crispy! YUM!
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