Banana Bread Cookies are full of homey banana flavor, spicy cinnamon, cream cheese and nuts. This is a favorite dessert recipe people just can’t stop eating. A new way to enjoy the classic quick bread flavors everyone loves!
If you love banana bread then these cookies will be your new favorite!
They have all the favorite flavors in a moist, cakey cookie.
It’s quick and easy.
You’ll want to hide some for yourself before sharing them with others!
Recipe Ingredients
- Light Brown Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Ground Cinnamon
- Eggs
- Bananas – choose ripe bananas. You’ll need 1 cup worth. They should be fully ripe for for texture (easy to mash) and best flavor.
- Milk
- All Purpose Flour – regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend may be used (the recipe has been tested with both).
- Baking Powder
- Salt – I recommend Kosher Salt. It’s less salty tasting and distributes well when sprinkled into recipes.
- Cream Cheese – be sure to use softened cream cheese. Either allow it to sit out at room temperature until soft or use the soften function on a microwave.
- Powdered Sugar
- Chopped Walnuts – use your favorite nuts finely chopped for the topping.
- Light Corn Syrup – this ingredient is a little trick! Added to the frosting and the frosting seals itself so the cookies can be stacked without messy frosting.
Cookie Texture
The cookie is more of a cakey cookie versus a chewy cookie.
The outside sets when baking and the inside has a light consistency.
We tested this recipe multiple times at sea level, at altitude, with regular flour and gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend.
When baking at altitude with the gluten-free flour, the cookies developed more lines and light cracks than the sea level regular flour cookies.
The texture was still moist and the flavor delicious. The frosting covers up the tops of the cookies too.
How to Make it – Step-by-Step
STEP 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (unless it is non-stick).
STEP 2: Using a mixer combine the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and eggs (photos 1-2). Add the milk and mash bananas (photo 3); mix to fully combine (photo 4). The batter will be lumpy.
STEP 3: Add the flour, baking powder and salt (photo 5); stir to fully combine (photo 6).
STEP 4: Drop in rounded tablespoons leaving 2 inches in between onto the cookie sheet (photo 7-8). NOTE: using a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop makes quick tidy work of it!
STEP 5: Bake for 9-11 minutes just until the tops are lightly golden in color (photo 9). Cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to fully cool before frosting (photo 10).
Frosting the Cookies
(ingredients in photo 11)
STEP 1: Using a mixer beat the softened cream cheese until light and fluffy (photos 13-14).
STEP 2: Add 1 cup of powdered sugar (photo 15) and mix until creamy (photo 16). Add in the remaining powdered sugar and continue to mix until frosting has formed.
PRO TIP: to prevent the frosting from sticking when stacking the cookies, add 2 teaspoons of light corn syrup to the frosting.
Frosting the cookies and sprinkle with the nuts.
Pro Tips
Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop is fast and easier than scooping the cookie dough with a spoon.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet then fully on a wire rack. These are light, cakey cookies that are more delicate until they fully cool.
Adding a just a bit of Light Corn Syrup to the frosting seals it. The cookies can be stacked on each other. It will set once the frosting sits for a few minutes.
Frost a cookie and add nuts, then repeat for the next cookie (versus frosting all cookies then adding nuts). This ensures the nuts will stick if using the corn syrup trick in the frosting.
Nut topping for ice cream can be used instead of chopping nuts to add on top of the frosting (time saving tip!).
How to Store
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
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Banana Bread Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted butter Softened
- 1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 medium Bananas – Ripe with Brown Spots equivalent of 1 cup of banana
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 3 cups All Purpose Flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Frosting
Frosting
- 4 ounces Cream Cheese softened
- 2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoon Milk
- 2 teaspoons Light Corn Syrup optional
- 1/2 cup finely chopped Walnuts
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper (unless it's a non-stick cookie sheet).
- In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and eggs.
- Mash in the bananas and milk. The mixture will be lumpy.
- Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheet. TIP: use a medium sized cookie scoop that holds 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough will make this go quickly with cookies the same size.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, just until the tops are lightly golden. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a cooling rack to fully cool before frosting.
Frosting
- Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Add 1 cup powdered sugar and the salt. Beat until combined and creamy.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat together until frosting has formed.
- Add the milk and beat until the frosting is spreadable consistency.
- OPTIONAL: to allow the frosted cookies to be stackable (without the frosting coming off), beat in the optional light corn syrup now. It will seal the frosting.
- Frost the cookies adding some of the nuts on top of each. RECOMMENDED: do this cookie by cookie instead of frosting all then adding all the nuts.
Nancy says
We loved them! They came together fairly easily! And man, they tasted great!
Suzy says
These are the best cookies! Taste just like banana bread! The frosting is amazing too!
Allyson Zea says
This idea for cookies is genius! We devoured them!
wilhelmina says
I made a batch for my husband, who is a huge banana bread fan. He loved them! He says he might just prefer these cookies to regular banana bread!
Beti | easyweeknightrecipes says
Oh boy, these banana bread cookies sound terrific! I bet they taste amazing!
katerina @ diethood.com says
I can’t wait to make these banana bread cookies for my kids! They will LOVE them!
Sherry says
I have got to make these cookies! I know they’ll be a hit here. I even have bananas in my freezer just waiting to be used.
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert says
These Banana Bread Cookies are sound delicious! Dangerously good…
Amanda says
Oh yummy these look like so much fun to make!