During the UK lockdown period, I’ve seen a lot of banana bread recipes flying around on social media, but I wanted to try out something a bit different to use up the brown bananas I had lying in my fruit bowl. I didn’t fancy making anything too fancy or complicated so I developed this recipe for these vegan banana and peanut butter cookies- and they turned out amazing!
I had a few concerns about adding banana to these cookies as I didn’t want them to be too stodgy or dense, but they were actually lovely and light, and the banana added a moist texture/sweet flavour.
I used half coconut sugar, half Total Sweet Sugar Alternative for these cookies as I wanted to try and keep them fairly healthy yet tasty (xylitol looks and tastes like sugar but has fewer calories and doesn’t raise blood sugar levels). I live at home with my parents, and as my dad has little to no self control with regards to food, I didn’t want them to be one stop shop for Type 2 Diabetes! I personally like using Xylitol as a sweetener as it is made from a natural source (in comparison to Artificial Sweeteners like Candarel which contains aspartame). If you don’t have a sweetener- don’t worry, you can replace it with the equivalent weight of coconut sugar, regular brown sugar or a liquid sweetener like agave syrup or honey (if you’re not vegan). Bear in mind though that this recipe alteration would make cookies these less healthy though, but if you’re not to overly fussed about this then then crack on with the sugar!
I often have some pb and sliced banana on toast for breakfast because for me, peanut butter and banana are a match made in heaven- and it’s even better in a cookie form! The peanut butter adds a nice salty contrast to the sweetness of the banana/sugar, so these cookies aren’t too overly sweet which I prefer as I’ve been eating them before/after dinner so they make a tasty snack for in between meals. I usually have the cookies with a cuppa, or with some vegan vanilla ice cream if I’m having them as a dessert.
These vegan banana and peanut butter cookies are so moreish you’d just have to try to not eat them all at once!
You can also try out different variations of this recipe too, you could try replacing some of the peanut butter with tahini or chocolate spread (but if you’re using a sweet spread like Nutella then use less sugar/sweetener).
I was feeling a little extra when I made these so I melted some vegan milk chocolate to drizzle on top of the cookies (I used a bit of a dairy-free Easter egg that I was given this year), but if you don’t have any in then don’t stress as you can just omit this final step, or you could make a peanut butter drizzle instead by heating some peanut butter with a little plant milk and icing sugar (click here for the recipe for that).
Drizzled with melted vegan chocolate
Vegan Banana and Peanut Butter Cookies
A great way to use overripe bananas!
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 75 g vegan butter
- 65 g smooth peanut butter
- 75 g coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 75 g Total sweet natural sweetener (or 35g of additional coconut/brown sugar)
- 2 medium ripe bananas (keep half of 1 banana for topping)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 125 g plain flour
- 150 g rolled oats
- 1 tsp corn flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For decoration
- vegan milk or dark chocolate (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 180°C
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Whisk the vegan butter, peanut butter, coconut sugar and sweetener in a bowl
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Mash the bananas (reserving half of one for the topping) with vanilla essence in a separate bowl
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Add the banana mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and whisk until combined
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In a separate bowl, combine the sifted flour, oats, bicarbonate soda, baking powder, salt, corn flour and cinnamon. The add to the wet ingredients- stir with a spoon or use your hands if it needs some extra work.
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If the mixture is looking too think then add a bit of plant milk but it should be looking like a cookie dough mixture now.
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Line a baking tray with baking paper then use a ice cream scoop to scoop the mixture into balls (leaving enough space between each cookie to expand)
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Press down the cookie with a spoon to flatten slightly (around 1-1.5cm thick). Slice the remaining half banana that was leftover from step 3 and place on top of each cookie
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Bake for 12-15 mins until lightly golden and cooked at the bottom.
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Leave to cool on a drying rack
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Optional: Melt some vegan chocolate in the microwave on medium heat for 2 mins (stirring in between). Once the cookies have cooled drizzle the chocolate on top using a teaspoon.
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Enjoy with a cuppa or vegan ice cream!
Truly delicious, moist and light. Excellent way to use up bananas! I’m also glad you do not add too much sugar so it is a healthy satisfying snack.