Double Chocolate Banana cookies

Once again I had ripe bananas to use and I was looking for something other than banana bread to make. (Although if you haven't tried this banana bread recipe, you really must). I had chocolate on the brain, like always, and I thought to myself, "I wonder if there are any recipes using ripe bananas and chocolate together?" So I turned to Google and found a few different ideas out there. (even for Chocolate banana mousse). So after checking a couple different recipes, I experimented and combined a couple different ideas together to make this moist, almost cake-like chocolate cookie. I even didn't feel that much guilt eating a lot of them because there are healthy bananas inside! Yea for getting your chocolate and potassium at the same time!

The Ingredients:

1 c sugar

3/4 c shortening or butter

1 c mashed ripe bananas (about 3

1 tsp lemon juice or orange juice

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 c chocolate chips

The Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg. Mix in the bananas,vanilla extract, and the juice. I used lemon juice but I think the orange would go better with the chocolate and banana.

Add all the dry ingredients.
Mix well and stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. (use parchment paper, a liner, or grease it first). I use two spoons to do this. One to scoop the batter, and the other to help slide it onto the baking sheet.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. I always cook cookies at the lesser time because I prefer softer cookies.

Eat as is, or make some glaze to go on top. All you need is:

1 c powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp milk

1/2 tsp almond flavoring

1-2 tsp corn syrup (optional. the corn syrup will help the glaze set if you're not serving them until later)

Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl and add a Tbsp of milk, along with the extract. Stir with a fork. Add a little more milk and keep stirring until smooth. Add the corn syrup if desired and stir some more. If you need to make it thinner just add a little milk. You want it to be able to drizzle, not blob.

Put the glaze in a baggie and snip a tiny hole out of one corner. This will help you get cute drizzles on your cookies. If you don't care about cute drizzles, then use a spoon to drizzle or even just frost the whole thing. I do have to admit that the glaze does mask a little of the banana flavor of the cookie. But it is still super delish!