It is a very fine line between fudge truffles and these cookies. Soft and squidgy, completely vegan, full of bananas, chocolate, and dark rum, these little beauties are one of the best choices for any occasion. Either as a holiday cookie, or as a mid-week sweet treat, they are like little chocolate gems. Their deep chocolate flavour comes from dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa in the batter, as well as the extra dark chocolate pieces folded through.
When it comes to chocolate, my preference and recommendation is to buy a good, high quality chocolate bar, and chop it up into chunks of various sizes, and then fold them through the batter. Not only will it add more texture to the baked cookie, but it also gives a lot of additional flavour.
This is a modest batch of cookies. It only yields nine soft, brownie-like cookies, and they are dense and do not spread much, so you can bake all of them in one batch on a large cookie sheet. If you prefer your cookies flatter, do make sure you shape them to your liking before baking, as they keep their shape fairly well.
Ingredients
120 grams bananas, mashed well
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon dark rum
50 grams plain flour
15 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
25 grams icing sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 grams dark chocolate, 50% cocoa solids
25 grams butter
50 grams extra dark chocolate, at least 70% of cocoa solids, finely chopped
Preparation
Melt together the dark chocolate with the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave on low. Remove from heat, stir until completely smooth and glossy, and set aside to cool. While the chocolate is cooling, sift together the flour with the cocoa powder, icing sugar, and the baking powder. Add the mashed bananas to a large bowl, add in the vanilla and rum, and whisk well. This will break up any remaining larger banana pieces. Add in the cooled chocolate, and whisk well once again. Tip in the dry ingredients, add in the chopped extra dark chocolate, and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Cover the top of the bowl with cling film, and place the batter in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. It will firm up just enough so it can be easily shaped. Scoop the chilled batter into 9 cookies, either using a cookie scoop, or by a spoon, and arrange them on a large cookie sheet lined with baking parchment. They will not spread a lot during baking. Bake them immediately at 180°C, for 8-10 minutes, or until set. The centres will look soft, but the edges of the cookies will be baked. Let them cool down and firm up for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 9 cookies.
