While I absolutely love baking cookies, sometimes I’m just too lazy to scoop each individual cookie onto the cookie sheet. I know, I know… it probably takes 5 minutes tops to do that, but sometimes I just don’t want to spare those five minutes! (I know you all have your moments where you can relate). In cases like that, I always turn to skillet cookies because it’s essentially just one big cookie, but without all the effort of making each individual cookie!
Does anyone else ever go on a streak where you absolutely love a certain food for a period of time, so you just keep buying a ton of said food? Well for the past two weeks, that has been me and bananas. It seems like I just can’t get enough of bananas, so I’ve been buying big bunches at a time from the grocery store. During my latest grocery haul, I knew I still had some bananas at home, but I didn’t want to run out, so I picked up a big batch of green bananas. This way, they wouldn’t be ready for a few days, giving me plenty of time to finish the ripe bananas I already had at home. Well unfortunately, my plan didn’t turn out the way I had hoped: the entire batch of bananas ripened extremely quickly, and all of them ripened at the exact same time. I went to bed one night and they were nice and green, and by the time I woke up the next morning, the whole entire batch was already browning and spotting. Ugh!
Since I had so many bananas on hand, I did what I always do when I have too many bananas on hand: I bake something. I was in the mood for some banana bread but also for banana cookies, yet I didn’t want to go through all of the time and effort of scooping out each individual cookie. Therefore, I decided to make a giant banana bread cookie cake – one where I could just pour all of the batter straight into the baking dish, stick it in the oven, and not waste my time making each individual cookie.
The result? A dense, gooey chocolate chip banana bread that was bursting with flavor and melted in your mouth when you took a bite. Even though this cookie is in the shape of a cake, it definitely has that soft, gooey texture of a good old chocolate chip cookie!
What I love about this cookie cake is that all of the flavors blend together well so that nothing is overpowering. Plus, it’s not overly sweet, which is just how I like my cookies! Keep in mind that the riper the banana, the sweeter it will be. So if you’re using a banana that is ripe but not to the point where it’s brown and spotty, maybe try adding a bit extra sweetener to the batter.
This bread/cake/cookie is grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, making it a great option if you have allergies or are baking for someone with allergies. Although if you don’t have any nut allergies, you can certainly swap out the sunflower seed butter for peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, tahini, or really any type of nut butter. I’m just personally a big fan of SunButter (and I have a TON at my house I need to use up), which is why I chose to use it in this recipe.
Banana Sunflower Butter Cookie Pie
Ingredients
- 2 very ripe bananas mashed, about 1 cup
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. maple extract or an additional 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 TBSP coconut sugar
- 1 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a pie plate or 10″ skillet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the banana, applesauce, sunflower seed butter, extracts, coconut sugar, and maple syrup. Mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients, mix well, and then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into greased dish and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before digging in.
