Healthy Soft Banana Bread Cookies
Soft, healthy banana cookies made with a mix of almond and coconut flour to make them gluten and grain free! These gluten free banana cookies taste like a slice of your favorite banana bread and are topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting for a delicious treat everyone loves. Paleo friendly and easily vegan & dairy free!
Ingredients
- Wet Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons melted and cooled coconut oil (or sub melted butter or vegan butter)
- 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (from 1 medium ripe banana)
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar (or coconut sugar*)
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups packed fine blanched almond flour (do not use almond meal)
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the cream cheese frosting:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese or vegan cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons butter or vegan butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond milk, if necessary, to thin out frosting
- For the topping:
- ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Instructions
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In a large bowl, add the melted and cooled coconut oil, mashed banana, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and smooth. Next add in almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms. Allow dough to chill in the fridge for 5 minutes while you preheat the oven.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
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Use your hands to roll dough into golf sized balls (it will be a softer dough but that’s okay.) Place on prepared cookie sheet then flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand, but still keep the cookies nice and round. They should be about 1/4 inch thick before baking because we still want them to be nice, thick and fluffy. Bake for 9-12 minutes.
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Remove from oven, allow cookies to firm up on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and allow cookies to cool completely before frosting. Makes about 12-14 cookies.
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For the frosting: In a medium bowl or bowl of an electric mixer, mix together the powdered sugar, cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla extract. If frosting is too thick, you can add a teaspoon of milk to make it spreadable. Frost each cookie then top with chopped walnuts or pecans. Sprinkle top of frosting with a little cinnamon for a gorgeous look. Cookies will get softer each day. Cookies can be stored in a container at room temp for a day or two, then I recommend storing them in the fridge for up to a week or freezer for up to 2 months. Makes 12 cookies.
Recipe Notes
If you prefer to make a vanilla buttercream instead of a cream cheese frosting, simply eliminate the cream cheese and replace with 2 tablespoons of softened butter instead. Vegan butter will work here too!
If you don’t want to do a frosting, feel free to stir in ½ cup chocolate chips (dairy free if desired) into the batter.
To make vegan: I haven’t tested this, but I think a flaxegg would work well in this recipe (1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons water). Use a vegan cream cheese like Kite Hill and a vegan butter like Earth Balance as well.
*Please note that if you use coconut sugar in the recipe, your cookies may come out slightly darker, but will still taste the same!