In February, my parents invited their close friends from college to come over for a small Super Bowl party. Although they attended a four-year university in southern California, everyone eventually migrated north to the suburbs outside of San Francisco, so they’re able to see each other multiple times throughout the year.
We started off with appetizers and snacks during the first half of the game, which Mom spread out across the dining room table. Chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, crudités and hummus, dried apple slices, M&Ms…
People tried to pace themselves and only take a little bit at a time to save room for the main course, but they never knew when to peel themselves away from the TV to grab a few more nibbles. During the exciting action of the game?… During the hilarious and super cute commercials?…
As a huge sports fan, I opted for the latter!
During the first few minutes of halftime, but before the performance, we headed back to the kitchen for the entrées. Dad had cooked steak, sausages, and pork tenderloin on the charcoal grill in the backyard, and he also prepared a quinoa salad and my special roasted Brussels sprouts inside.
Throughout the second half, people wandered over to the dessert table, which included a few store-bought cakes, these homemade truffles, these homemade chocolate graham crackers… And these healthy banana chocolate chip cookies! They’re perfectly soft and chewy (even with no butter, eggs, refined flour, or refined sugar!) and simple to make.
And the best part of our Super Bowl party? Everyone raved about all three of my recipes and asked to bring the leftovers home with them!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Let’s cover the ingredients you’ll need to make these healthy banana chocolate chip cookies!
You’ll start with white whole wheat flour. It sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? Normally white flour and whole wheat flour are two separate things! However, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to all-purpose flour, which really lets the banana flavor and chewy texture shine! (Bonus: It has the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour!)
Tip: I included a few gluten-free options in the Notes section of the recipe, if you’d like to make these healthy banana chocolate chip cookies gluten-free!
The mashed banana plays three important roles in these cookies: fruit flavor (I’m sure you guessed that already!), natural sweetness, and an egg replacer. That’s right — these cookies contain no eggs! I included a dairy-free option too… So if you use that, your healthy banana chocolate chip cookies will be vegan, egg-free, and dairy-free!
Tip: To make the best banana cookies, pick an extra spotty banana. I always use ones that are almost pure brown or black. Very brown bananas contain a stronger banana flavor and more natural sweetness than pure yellow ones. They also make your cookies softer!
Because the banana alone doesn’t provide quite enough sweetness for these cookies, you’ll also mix in coconut sugar. That’s exactly what it sounds like: an unrefined sweetener that comes from coconuts! But it does NOT actually taste like coconuts. It has a rich, caramel-like flavor, similar to brown sugar, and it pours like granulated sugar. Most grocery stores stock it near the regular sugar on the baking aisle, and you can also find it online.
Then for my favorite part… The mini chocolate chips! (I’m a huge chocoholic. That’s why I published my Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook!) I prefer these mini chips because they melt very well and taste really rich. Plus mini chocolate chips ensure that every bite of these cookies contains chocolate!
HOW TO MAKE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Let’s go over how to make the best banana chocolate chip cookies! This recipe is easy and straightforward, so I just have a few quick tips.
Chill the cookie dough. This cookie dough is fairly sticky when you initially mix everything together. A brief trip to the refrigerator helps fix that! Chilling stiffens the cookie dough and makes it easier to work with. It’ll still be a bit sticky though, so use a spoon and spatula to shape it — not your hands!
Flatten the cookie dough. These cookies do not spread while baking, so flatten them before you put them in the oven! I like to use these mini spatulas to shape the cookie dough and smooth out the edges into nice round circles.
Do not overbake. The cookies are ready to come out of the oven when the centers still feel a bit soft and underdone. If you wait until the centers are firm, you’ll overbake the cookies — and they’ll turn out cakey, bready, or dry! But if you remove the baking sheet from the oven earlier, when the cookies still feel slightly underdone, they’ll turn out perfectly soft and chewy. (The heat from the warm baking sheet continues to cook the centers all the way through while you let the cookies rest before transferring them to a wire rack!)
Got milk? 😉 And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amys.healthy.baking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy banana chocolate chip cookies!
Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp (21g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (67g) mashed banana (about 1 tiny banana – and see Notes!)
- 1 tbsp (15mL) unsweetened vanilla almond milk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (64g) coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp (42g) miniature chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the butter, vanilla, mashed banana, and milk. Stir in the coconut sugar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in 2 ½ tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet using a spoon and a spatula. Flatten the cookie dough to ⅜" thick. Gently press the remaining miniature chocolate chips into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Banana Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
♡ Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Brownies
♡ Peanut Butter Banana Bread Brownies
♡ Strawberry Blueberry Banana Bread
♡ Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
♡ Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Muffins
♡ Banana Chocolate Chip Scones
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy banana recipes!
Hey! So i tried making these with coconut flour. The dough came out completely crumbly/dusty. I did cool off the dough but they came out like baked crumbs 🙁
Unfortunately, coconut flour doesn’t work in these cookies. It’s about 3x as absorbent as any other flour, which is why your cookies turned out so crumbly and dry. I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies with one of the flour options that I’ve listed! 🙂
Most delicious cookies ever! Although I modified the recipe for more milk because it was too dry. Didn’t turn out as smooth looking as Amy’s but still good! Thanks for this great idea!??
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Elsa! 🙂
I made this cookies tonight and they turned out great. They are more scone like than cookie like but I liked it. I think I should have put in less sugar because the dough with the banana’s is pretty sweet (I also tend to like a less sweet dough so I enjoy the chocolate chips more). Otherwise an awesome recipe! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Hena! If you’d like them to be chewier like regular cookies, rather than scone-like, then bake them for 2-3 fewer minutes. They’re done baking when the center still feel slightly underdone. 🙂 If you use less sugar, then you’ll need to slight increase the amount of milk to compensate for the missing volume. I hope that helps your next batch turn out even better!
Hi, mine are in the oven as we speak and I used Almond flour to experiment, but I am afraid they are looking like what the person above is saying, quite light colored and dry. Could this be because of my use of Almond flour?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Maureen! It could definitely be due to your almond flour. How did you measure it? With a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe precisely how you measured it? Also, did you measure the mashed banana with measuring cups or a kitchen scale? Did you make any other substitutions besides the almond flour? We’ll figure out what happened so your cookies turn out perfectly chewy next time! 🙂
Hi Amy,
I absolutely love the genuine, wholesome recipes you bring to the table (pun intended :P)! I have a question though in regards to using whole wheat flour as opposed to white whole wheat flour. So unfortunately I can’t seem to find white whole wheat flour in my country and buying it online is not an option for me so I tried to substitute it with whole wheat flour (particularly in your carrot cake) using the correct pour and level measurement method as recommended but I found the end result to be cake that was a little doughy, absolutely delicious but a little doughy and I might try measuring using a kitchen scale in the future but what do you recommend in this case to combat this? Using less? Letting the cake cook for longer?
I would really appreciate your help 🙂
Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Joumana! You should be able to substitute regular whole wheat flour for white whole wheat flour as a 1-to-1 substitution without any modifications. I’d recommend using a kitchen scale next time to ensure you’re measuring the proper amount. It’s SO easy to accidentally add too much flour, and that will make a bigger difference in the final taste and texture when working with whole wheat flour! 🙂 Kitchen scales don’t cost that much (mine was only $20!), and it’s literally the BEST “investment” I’ve ever made because I use it every single day!
Hi
This looks great! I’m looking for a chewy low sugar oat and raisin cookie, ideally featuring banana as the sugar substitute. Do you think I could substitute raisins for the choc chips and throw in a handful or two of oats without negative effect?
TIA
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Anoushka! I’d recommend using this banana oatmeal cookie recipe of mine and substituting raisins for the chocolate chips in that one. Adding oats to this recipe will make the cookies dry. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of those cookies!
Amy…I am so happy to have found your website!! I have loved the couple of recipes that I have tried thus far…including this one. Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful recipes!!
My banana choco chip cookies did not look a thing like yours in your pictures…but they were delicious!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Julie! And thank you for your kind words about my website and recipes. I’m truly honored! 🙂 I typically spend about 10-15 minutes shaping the cookie dough once I’ve dropped it onto my baking sheet to make the cookies look perfect for my photos. If they aren’t getting photographed, then my cookies look much more “rustic” than these! 😉
Hey I was wondering if you make vegan chocolate chip cookies? Apparently they are some of the most healthy ones out there. I am vegan and have been for twenty years. It has done me wonders! And so have some of your recipes which I substitute, though they dont always come out perfectly. Also I noticed this recipe has an option for coconut oil or butter. Does the butter make it less healthy? Anyways thanks so much for your recipes I have enjoyed some very much.
Thanks 🙂
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! Butter doesn’t make these cookies any less healthy than using coconut oil. 🙂 In my recipes, Ener-G works as an egg substitute in just about all of them! (My brother is allergic to eggs, so I’m very familiar with egg substitutes!) For my recipes, you’ll need 1 ½ teaspoons of Ener-G + 2 tablespoons of warm water for each egg white, and you’ll need an additional ½ tablespoon of coconut oil or Earth Balance buttery sticks for each egg yolk. 🙂 The best way to find a specific recipe is to click on the “Recipes” tab at the top of my blog or use the Search Bar (located at the top of my blog, if you’re viewing on a computer, or the bottom of my blog, if you’re viewing on a mobile device). I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies — or my classic chocolate chip cookies, if you try those too!
Hi Amy. I’m looking for a recipe to use up the bananas that has been sitting on my counter for a while and this looks prefect! Before you bake these cookies, you chilled them for 30mins. Do you mean to chill the dough in the fridge? I live in a warm country and I’m not sure if I should put them in the fridge to chill or not.
Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Lisa! 🙂 Yes! Whenever “chill” is used in the instructions of a recipe, it means place in the refrigerator (rather than the freezer). I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies! (And if you’re looking for more banana recipes, you can find the rest of my banana treats here! 😉 )
These tasted horrible and did not work at all. They just remained in dry balls even after being put in the oven for extra time. Would not recommend.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Brenna! That sounds frustrating. I’d love to work together to solve the issues you saw so your cookies turn out perfectly chewy! 🙂 How did you measure the flour? Did you use measuring cups or a kitchen scale? If the former, can you describe in detail how you measured? Also, did you make any substitutions (like coconut flour, perhaps)? That info will really help us sort through the dryness problem! 🙂
These were delicious! However, my fiancée and I thought they had the texture of muffin tops instead of cookies. I like my cookies to be a little crispier. Either way, I loved them! I just might call them my banana chocolate chip muffin tops! Lol! Looking forward to following your recipes more. Thanks Amy!
I’m so glad you and your fiancée enjoyed these cookies Emily! If they were muffin-like, rather than chewy, then there was either a bit too much flour in the cookie dough, or they were baked too long. (Or both!) These cookies aren’t supposed to turn out crunchy! How did you measure the flour? Did you use measuring cups or a kitchen scale? We should be able to eliminate that muffin-like texture, if you’d like to make chewy cookies! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what recipe of mine you try next!