Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

I thought I would start the week off with something warm and yummy -- something about snowy grey days always makes me want to reach for something sweet.

These are the Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies from Martha Stewart's Cookies .  Got an extra just-a-little-too-ripe banana that you don't know what to do with?  Like chocolate and toasted walnuts?  This recipe is for you!

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies
(makes about 3 dozen)

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces semisweet chococolate in 1/4" chunks
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 375F.  Blend flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl with a wisk.

Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Reduce speed.  Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.  Add in banana.  Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Add in oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.

Drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment (Silpats work nicely as well) with about 2" spacing -- I used a little over a tablespoon of cookie dough.  Bake cookies, rotating half-way through.  Cookies should be golden brown and just set -- should take around 12-13 minutes.  Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks -- this is necessary because cookies will be structurally unstable until they have cooled a little bit.

The finished cookies should still be a bit on the soft and chewy side, even after being cooled. 

I made the mistake of adding about twice as much vanilla as I was supposed to and I had to supplement a little of the butter with margarine after finding out that John had used the butter I thought I had for clarified butter for the lobster tails he made the night before (I am absolutely not complaining -- any man who makes me lobster and knows how to clarify butter gets a complete and total pass on not reminding me to get more).  Even with those little issues, the cookies were quite good.  Both John and I thought that a little more banana flavor might have been nice - next time I might increase from one banana to 1-1/2 bananas or use a larger banana.  As far as I can tell, the extra vanilla didn't have much of an impact.

You might be wondering if toasting walnuts is worth it.  I'd say yes -- especially since all it entails is chopping the walnuts and then putting them in your toaster oven for 10 minutes.  The toasted flavor was lovely.  I actually wished that I'd added more walnuts than called for in the recipe.

This cookie got a big thumbs up from both John and Z* and I would definitely make it again. So we're 2 for 2 as far as Martha's recipes are concerned.  Maybe the only bad thing about this recipe is that 3 dozen cookies don't last too long around my house...

*For anyone thinking "quelle horreur! she's letting her baby have nuts!"  The answer is: definitely.  We've let her have peanut products and walnuts and pecans without any problems.  It happened by accident the first time, but when nothing bad happened, I saw no reason to maintain the ban, especially since nuts contain so many good oils.