Banana Pudding Cookies

Summer has officially and thoroughly announced herself as being here to stay for a while.

It’s been hot in my part of the world. Like, really hot. the kind of hot where if you don’t absolutely have to leave the house, you don’t. You just stay inside in the nice cool air conditioning and thank God that you’ve got it.

However, as hot as it is, the arrival of summer also means the arrival of summer baking. Some desserts just eat better at certain times of year, and for me, one of those desserts is banana pudding.

When it comes to banana pudding, I am somewhat of a snob. People eat/prepare it different ways, but I was raised on one type of banana pudding and one type of banana pudding only: the one my grandmother made.

Whenever I make it, (which is typically only about once a year) I make it exactly the way she did. No fancy stuff, no deviating from the formula. Deviating and experimenting with nostalgic recipes is no buneno for me; I just want it to taste the way I remember that it always tasted.

Experimentation can saved for and done in other recipes. Like today’s.

Banana pudding has several key elements: bananas, pudding, vanilla wafers/cookies. Depending on who you’re asking some people would say that meringue is another one of the elements–but I’m not some people. Meringue doesn’t belong in my banana pudding. Just the bananas, the pudding, and the vanilla wafers/cookies. Those are three elements that can be easily adapted into any number of different kinds of recipes, but cookie dough is the one we’re going for today.

Pudding mix is a secret ingredient of sorts that does amazing things to cookie dough texture. Because it’s made with cornstarch, and other modified starches, it keeps the cookies from spreading too much and gives them a thick, pillowy and yet slightly chewy texture that’s just like the ones you buy in a bakery (that probably also have pudding mix in them too, you just don’t know it). This cookie dough is made with instant vanilla pudding mix, but if you prefer/can find banana, that would certainly work great here.

The base of the dough is made with both flour AND crushed vanilla wafers. Brown sugar gives them a warm, nutty sweetness, while the mashed banana gives them both added banana flavor and moisture. There are also a hefty scoop of white chocolate chips in there

I HIGHLY recommend allowing these cookies to chill in the fridge overnight. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when baking from scratch cookie dough is baking them straight after mixing the dough, then end up disappointed when they see flat pancakes on the baking sheets. You’ve got to allow the butter to thoroughly chill so that it won’t prematurely melt when it meets the heat of the oven, and chilling the dough is the failproof way to ensure that happens. It takes time, but it is well worth the effort.

Cause, I mean, just LOOK at these babies.

I promise y’all they are every big as delicious as they look. The banana flavor is front and center here, perfectly complimented by the flavor of vanilla wafers. the white chocolate chips are the most interesting addition here, as their creaminess really does give you the sense of having little pockets of ‘pudding’ throughout the dough, so that you’re definitely reminded of the original banana pudding dessert.

We absolutely loved these, and if you try them I’m fairly positive that you will too.

Stay cool!

Banana Pudding Cookies

Recipe Adapted From The Kitchn

Ingredients

4 sticks (16 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (3.4-ounce) boxes instant vanilla (or banana; your choice) pudding mix
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
48 mini Nilla wafer cookies, plus more for decor
4/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large ripe bananas
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Place the Nilla wafers in a large zip-top plastic bag, seal, and crush lightly with a rolling pin or bottom of a heavy pan into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups) and set aside. Peel the ripe bananas, break into a few pieces, and place in a small bowl. Mash with a fork until completely broken down with no big chunks remaining (about 1 cup) and set aside

Place all-purpose flour, the instant vanilla pudding mix, kosher salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using an electric hand mixer). Add the light brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl with the butter. Beat with the paddle attachment the butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined, lightened in color, and creamy, 30 seconds to 1 minute, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl down with a flexible spatula as needed.

Add the banana, egg yolks, and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and beat on medium speed until incorporated and lightened in color, 20 to 30 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. This mixture will look slightly broken and curdled.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat on the lowest speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Some dry bits remaining are okay.

Add the Nilla wafers and white chocolate chips. Fold together by hand with a flexible spatula until the wafers and chocolate chips are well distributed and no floury bits remain.

Scoop out 1/4 cup portions of cookie dough into a resealable plastic container that you’ve lined with foil or parchment paper. Refrigerate the dough overnight.

Arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat the oven to 350ºF. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Evenly space the cookies on the baking sheets. Bake for 7 minutes. Halfway through, rotate the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom. Bake until the cookies are set and light golden brown around the edges, 4 to 6 minutes more.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, during which you gently press a single vanilla wafer in the center of each of the baked cookies.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat baking the remaining cookie dough on cooled baking sheets (you can reuse the parchment).

Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.