Brown Butter Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies

These brown butter banana bread cookies have everything I love about banana bread in cookie form. Unlike most banana bread cookies that tend to be soft and cakey, these have crispy edges, and chewy, gooey middles studded with chocolate. My recipe uses more banana than most recipes, brown butter, brown sugar, and a hint of coffee to achieve the perfect texture and a beautiful nutty, toffee-like banana flavor. And they're so easy to make: one bowl, no mixer, and NO EGGS! And no long chill times either - you have to rest the dough for just 20-30 minutes before baking.

No cakey cookies here!

If I am being honest, these cookies turned me into a mad scientist - I've made at least a dozen batches in the last 2 weeks alone... My goal was to add as much banana as possible while still maintaining a chewy texture, but that proved much harder than expected. Bananas add moisture, which results in puffy, cakey cookies (that, frankly, feel more like bread). But I am so thrilled to have finally nailed these, and here's how:

• No eggs! I thought I needed to add an egg yolk for richness, moisture and structural integrity. But because we are already getting a lot of that from the banana itself, the cookies kept turning out cakey no matter what. So, we actually skip the eggs altogether, which makes this recipe suitable for those with egg allergies or dietary restrictions
• More banana than most recipes. Because of the moisture in bananas, most banana cookie recipes add a small amount. But my recipe uses 125g (nearly double of most) and gets away with it because we aren't using eggs. So there's no mistaking that these are banana cookies!
• High ratio of butter to flour. Just like my brown butter chocolate chip cookies, this recipe uses a high ratio of butter to flour for the most buttery, chewy texture
• The brown trifecta. We use brown butter, brown bananas and brown sugar - the perfect combination for a nutty, caramel-y banana flavor and a beautiful deep golden color
• A hint of coffee. I love adding a tiny amount of instant coffee to my brown butter desserts (like my brown butter banana bread). You just have to trust me on this one, the flavor is incredible

Step by step photos

Let's quickly go over the steps with photos to help you visualize this recipe.

Let the cookies cool down slightly, then enjoy!

You can adjust the thickness to your liking

A great thing about these cookies is how customizable they are!

• If you like your cookies to be thin and crispy, you can bake them straight away without any rest time. They will spread more than pictured
• For regular cookies (as pictured), rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes
• For thicker cookies that spread even less, rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before baking

The baking time is quite similar for all 3 options, just keep an eye and stop baking once the edges are set. They will continue cooking from the residual heat of the baking sheet as they cool down.

A few more tips before you make them

• Measure with a weighing scale for accuracy. This is especially important for the bananas - bananas come in various sizes and adding even a little less or a little more will impact the flavor and texture of the cookies
• Make sure your banana is extra ripe and brown. This is how you can maximize the banana flavor in these cookies!If in a pinch, bake the bananas at 350F for 5-8 minutes to caramelize them first
• Use a light colored baking sheet. A dark pan will brown the cookies too fast and is likely to burn the bottoms

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