Banana and caramel cookies with chocolate
Today’s recipe is super simple to prepare, that I know that this type of elaborations you also appreciate. In fact, it can be made on the same day and enjoyed mid-afternoon with a freshly brewed coffee. These banana and caramel cookies with chocolate, are those kind of recipes that we can make when we have a craving and eat them almost, almost when they come out of the oven.
I say almost because we have to fill them, in case you want to omit the filling, they can be eaten as soon as they are tempered a little after baking. Otherwise, we burn our tongues and it’s super annoying! Because I’m sure this has happened to you, as it has to me hundreds of times, because we can’t resist, hahaha.
Banana and caramel cookies with chocolate.
These cookies are inspired by ones I saw Cristina, Kanela y Limón a long time ago. From the first moment I saw them, I loved them and I’ve been wanting to make them ever since. I can tell you that they not only have a fantastic texture, a mixture of sponge cake and biscuit, but their taste is spectacular!
Since I didn’t want to make them in exactly the same way, I decided to make another caramel-flavored dough and combine them when piping them. The result is a cookie that not only combines the banana-caramel flavor, but also combines both colors.
To fill them I used the same ganache that I left you in the Milano cookies. I really like the spreadable texture it has, as well as the taste since it is not very sweet thanks to the use of 70% chocolate. Combined with the cookies, the result is wonderful not only in flavor but also in texture and consistency.
Other options to elaborate them.
When we are ready to make them, we can combine both doughs as detailed in the elaboration process so that when they are piped they combine and we can create this effect. I will tell you a little below, but we need to exert a little pressure to pipe this dough because it is a little consistent. It is probably due to the fact that the temperatures have gone down a lot and, in a warmer climate, we work better with it.
But, in case you don’t want to do this, we can pipe all the banana dough on one side and the caramel dough on the other. Then we will join one of each with a central layer of chocolate ganache. That way they will also be very nice and delicious, of course.
The filling, for me, had to be chocolate. Not only because I like it so much, but also because it combines very well with banana and caramel. But, if you want to vary it, you can opt for other fillings such as white chocolate, dulce de leche, a coconut cream as I left you in these Mexican hot chocolate cookies… Or some other version that you can think of and like!
Ingredients for 15 double pieces
FOR BANANA COOKIES:
- 100 g cake flour
- 30 g cornstarch
- 70 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 70 g ripe banana, mashed
- 2-3 drops banana aroma (optional)
- 60 g icing sugar
- 40 g créme fraîche
- 20 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 g baking powder
- pinch of salt
FOR CARAMEL COOKIES:
- 100 g cake flour
- 40 g cornstarch
- 70 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 60 g icing sugar
- 70 g créme fraîche
- few drops of caramel aroma
- 4 g baking powder
- pinch of salt
FOR CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
- 225 g black chocolate 70%
- 220 g fat cream
Instructions
Make chocolate ganache.
- Chop the chocolate, set aside.
- Pour the cream into a heat-resistant bowl and place in a water-bath. Leave until it acquires temperature but without reaching boiling point. Remove from the heat.
- Add the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes.Mix until completely homogenized.
- Pour the ganache into an airtight container and let it cool down to room temperature. It will take about 2 hours.
- We need it to have a spreadable consistency, we can refrigerate it for 2-3 hours once it has cooled. If it's very cold outside, it's likely to get that consistency sooner.
Make banana cookie dough.
- In a bowl sift the flour together with the cornstarch, the cocoa powder, the baking powder and the salt. Set aside.
- Mash a ripe banana until a purée consistency, set aside.
- In the bowl of KitchenAid add the butter together with the icing sugar. Mix with the flat beater at speed 1 until a creamy consistency is achieved.
- Add the banana purée together with the crème fraîche and mix again until completely homogenized.
- If the banana does not have too much flavor, we can add 2-3 drops of banana aroma. Mix.
- Add little by little and at the same time mix the dry ingredients. We will mix until these have been completely integrated, but we must not overbeat the mixture.
- Put the dough in a piping bag and set aside.
Make caramel cookie dough.
- Preheat the oven to 320ºF/160ºC.
In a bowl sift the flour together with the cornstarch, the baking powder and the salt. Set aside. - In the bowl of KitchenAid add the butter together with the icing sugar. Mix with the flat beater at speed 1 until you get a creamy consistency.
- Add crème fraîche along with the caramel aroma. Mix.
- Incorporate little by little and at the same time mix the dry ingredients. We will mix until these have been completely integrated, but we must not overbeat the mixture.
- Put the dough in a piping bag and set aside.
Pipe the cookies and bake.
- To be able to pipe the two doughs at the same time what I did was to introduce each of the doughs into a smaller piping bag, and then to introduce these two into a larger one with a smooth 1 cm in diameter tip.
- Place a silpat on a perforated tray and pipe the dough to form a spiral. Depending on how big you make them, you will get more or less. In my case I made spirals of 3 wrist turns.
- Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove and carefully place on a rack.
- Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.
- Let them cool completely before filling.
Fill them.
- Match the cookies, making sure they have the same shape. In total we will get 30 single units, from which we will get 15 double biscuits.
- Using a spreading knife, spread the ganache over the surface of one of the biscuits. Place another biscuit on top of the ganache and press gently.
- Repeat the same process with the rest of the pieces.
Notes
- If you don't have a caramel aroma you can substitute vanilla if you wish.
- If you do not have two trays, you can use a large board to place the baking paper and pipe the cookies. The wood board will serve you to place them on the tray of the oven.
- This time I baked on silpat teflon, but it can also be done on baking paper.
- It's not the first time I've recommended them to you, but I really like to bake on "perforated trays". They favor a uniform cooking without burning the base of what you bake. If you use Ikea trays, this has probably happened to you on more than one occasion.
- If you don't have two sized piping bags, you can insert the film-wrapped doughs individually and then insert both into a piping bag with the tip.
- If you don't have a smooth tip of the size that I specify, you can make a cut in the piping bag.
- It is necessary to exert pressure to pipe the dough, especially if it is cold weather. If it's a hotter time of the year, it won't be hard to pipe the dough.
- If you don't want to pipe the two doughs at once, you can make one batch of banana biscuits and one batch of caramel biscuits. Then, when filling the biscuits, you can place a banana biscuit, chocolate ganache and another caramel biscuit.
- Cookies can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for 1 week.
- They can be eaten directly from the fridge, they are delicious, but if you prefer you can temper them during 1 hour before consuming them.
Starting a new week with these banana and caramel cookies with chocolate undoubtedly assures a round start. Easy, delish and perfect to make a day that we feel like cooking, but don't make too much of it or do it with children.
The good thing about cookies is that they can always be adapted and versioned, even decorating them with sprinkles if we are making them with children. They really like to create their own versions and decorate them a lot, very much!
I wish you a wonderful start to the week!
Big hugs,
Eva
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