American-style cookies—with their chewy-soft, chunky textures—have become increasingly popular in France. Now, just about every French pastry chef has a cookie recipe. (The French call the hard cookies biscuits, pronounced “bee-squee,” the same word the British use, and the American-style cookies cookies, pronounced the same.) There are now several fantastic cookie shops in Paris, and I’m always excited when I stumble upon one.
In this easy cookie recipe, which comes together in one bowl using a whisk and spatula, one of my favorite online personalities, Hervé Palmieri, uses his signature approach of replacing fats in a baked good with a puréed fruit or vegetable (see “Surprise Chocolate Torte” in which he uses two cooked puréed carrots as an undetectable substitute for butter). In this recipe, he uses a very ripe banana to replace the egg, but here the banana becomes part of the cookie’s overall flavor, recalling, for me, France’s classic kid’s morning drink, Banania, with its comforting chocolate-banana flavors. What better way to use a single banana that might otherwise be lost?
Makes 10 cookies (scooped as 2-inch balls, or 60 g each), about 3½ inches in diameter once baked.
1 very ripe banana (the skin will have dark spots and will feel slightly soft when gently squeezed)
½ cup (100 g) Granulated sugar
¼ cup packed (50 g) Dark brown sugar, preferably muscovado
7 Tbsp (100 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly warm
1/2 tsp Pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp Baking soda
¼ tsp Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/3 cups (170 g) All-purpose flour
3½ oz (100 g) Premium dark chocolate, such as Valrhona 55% Equatoriale, chopped into large pieces, or use your favorite large chocolate chips (about ½ cup)
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Position the rack near the center of the oven. Because the cookies spread, bake no more than six on a baking sheet at a time. You can bake them in two batches (avoid placing the second batch on a hot pan), or bake them on two pans at the same time placed on the center and lower oven racks. If baking two pans at the same time, rotate the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through the baking time.
Peel the banana and place it in a large mixing bowl. Thoroughly mash it using a fork; it can remain a little chunky. Add the granulated sugar and partially combine it using the fork. Add the brown sugar and partially combine it using the fork. Using a whisk, vigorously combine the mixture until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla and whisk again to thoroughly combine.
Add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour. Using a silicone spatula, stir and fold just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be thick.
If you have chopped the chocolate into large pieces, set aside a few of the larger pieces (1 or 2 per cookie) for topping the cookies before baking. Add the remaining chocolate pieces to the batter and stir just until evenly distributed.
Lightly grease a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper (or use a silicone baking mat on an ungreased baking sheet). Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, scoop the batter into 2-inch balls onto the cookie sheet (or use a scale to weigh them on the baking sheet at 60 g each), keeping them 3 inches apart. Arrange the reserved chocolate pieces on top, pushing them gently into the batter to secure them.
Bake for about 14 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies are well browned. The centers will feel slightly soft when gently touched. Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 3 minutes to cool slightly, then carefully transfer the cookies using a wide spatula to a cooling rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt, if desired. Once cooled, transfer them to an airtight container and store at room temperature.
Hervé’s Tips:
In his video, Hervé explains that:
You can make substitutions between butter and oil, but butter’s makeup is different from oil (butter contains milk fat, milk solids, and water, whereas oils are 100% fat, which is why the oil alternative mentioned below is less than the butter by weight in his recipe).
The addition of brown sugar offers more moisture, but you can use other sugars. For example, turbinado sugar, coconut sugar, or whole cane sugar (what the French call sucre complet).
You can substitute the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flours, such as quinoa, chestnut, or oat (see Chef Zach’s Notes below).
If you are looking to make the cookies with less fat and/or less sugar, his suggestions are:
Fat: Substitute the 100 g of butter with a combination of 50 g melted butter + 50 g apple sauce, or use a total of 60 g coconut or sunflower oil.
Sugar: Use only the granulated sugar (omit the brown sugar), or use granulated low-calorie sweeteners of your choice.
Chef Zach’s Notes:
A note about substitutions: If you make cookies often, you’ll know that small changes in the fats, sugar, or flour content, in addition to the baking time, can change a cookie’s texture. When making substitutions, change only one variable at a time so that you can keep track of the results of each change.
You can make these cookies any size you want, just make sure they are of equal size so that they bake evenly.
The chocolate that Hervé uses is a dark chocolate by Valrhona, although he doesn’t specify which chocolate, but in this case it doesn’t matter. I chose the Valrhona Equatoriale 55% cacao because of its natural almondy-ness and balanced sweetness, but you can use any chocolate chunks you have on hand that you like.
I added the sprinkle of flaky sea salt at the end, which I love.
I also tested these cookies baking them in 3-inch stainless-steel rings, an approach I often take for cookies to keep them from spreading unpredictably and to make them taller and uniformly round. The baking time is about the same (just look for browned edges and be sure to lightly grease the rings to make lifting them off the cookies easier).