Bananadoodles (Vegan)

Spring is here!  FINALLY.  If you had as much snow as we did around here in good old New England, I'm sure you are as ecstatic as I am to kiss winter's patootie goodbye.  Thankfully the sun has been shining brightly and the temperature has been steadily creeping up to a bearable degree.  There is hope!  Although it was a little cooler today, the sun was still out full force so I decided it seemed like a good morning to bundle up and lace up my running shoes.  I dragged Dave and Tucker along with me and it ended up being a really nice to start the day by taking a run around town.  (Although by the end of the excursion, I was the one being dragged along...)  Once we finally got home and I was able to catch my breath, I was very happy to have started my day off productively.  And then when it came down to me and the bananadoodles facing off in the kitchen, I didn't have so much guilt about eating ten zillion of them.  Which, by the way, I am still digesting. But hey, that's totally okay with me because these are reaaaal good.

If you like banana, cinnamon, and soft yummy cookies, these are most certainly a wonderful choice.  And they are a great pick for your vegan friends and family members too!  Dave and I had some friends over last night so while the boys were watching their "boy shows", the girls were in the kitchen and I had some bananadoodle dough in the fridge that needed to be rolled into a cinnamon-sugary goodness.  So, with their help we got to baking these cookies and enjoying some spoonfuls of dough along the way.  And even better, no worries from the Salmonella Police! Remember, these cookies are egg free...so eat on!  Just be sure to leave some dough to actually get some cookies out of it.  Luckily they don't take long to bake so just be patient, because the cookie is even yummier than the dough!  Then once they cooled a little, we brought some in for the boys (who won't touch anything if they know it's vegan), and they actually approved.  ...And then we laughed and revealed our little secret.  So you see, sometimes ignorance can be bliss.  :)


Vegan Bananadoodles
Yield: About 2 dozen
 

Ingredients:
Cookie Dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

• 1 tablespoon molasses

• 2 large bananas. mashed

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease.
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Using either a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat the oil, sugar and molasses at medium high speed until light, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add bananas beating well after addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Scrape down sides of the bowl and beat 30 seconds more. At low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until just blended.
• In a bowl, make topping by mixing cinnamon and sugar together.
• Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (or up to a week in the fridge.) Shape the cookie into 1 inch balls (about 1 tablespoon of dough.) Roll each ball into cinnamon sugar mixture to coat completely and arrange balls on the baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Flatten each cookie into a 2 inch disk. Bake cookies one sheet at time, 14- 18 minutes until tops are crinkly and they are puffed and lightly browned around the edges. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Note:  I only cooked mine for 10 minutes and the next day they were still extremely soft and delicious.  If you'd like them a little crisper I would keep an eye on them after the 10 minute mark.  These are a little bigger than tablespoon size, which yeilded a little more than 2 dozen big, soft, and delicious cookies to enjoy.  


Source: Week of Menus