Banana cookies recipe

These fruity little biscuits are packed with squidgy banana and chewy raisins.

Banana cookies are a brilliant lunchbox snack - we find kids love them. They even like helping to make them. Mashing the banana or mixing up all the ingredients are great tasks for doing together. We topped each of these with a banana chip but if you prefer you can leave them plain or add a little trio of raisins in a pile instead. This is a great standby recipe, when you want to bake but you don't have time to shop. Most of the ingredients are things you'll have around the house anyway, and it's a good way to use up the last banana if it's starting to look a little sad in the fruit bowl.

Ingredients

• 85g/3oz unsalted butter, softened slightly
• 80g/3oz light brown soft sugar
• A few drops of vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 small ripe banana, peeled and mashed
• 175g/7oz self raising flour, sifted
• 85g/3oz raisins
• 16 banana chips to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
2. Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg and mashed banana and mix together. Then stir in the flour and raisins until well mixed and all the flour is incorporated.
3. Using a spoon, divide the mixture into 16 equal amounts and place on lightly greased baking trays, leaving space in between each to allow for spreading during cooking. Top each cookie with a banana chip then bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 mins or until golden brown.
4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 2-3 mins before removing from the baking trays and transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Top tip for making banana cookies

Throw in a handful of porridge oats to the mix as well if you like. It add a lovely chewiness to the texture.

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Chocolate chip cookies

Sugar cookies recipe

Peanut butter cookies