Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Banana Sugar Shortbread Cookies

Ever have bananas sitting on the counter and they turn that putrid brown color? You know logically they're still really tasty and since they've had time to over ripen the sugar content is like WAY higher than normal, you just can't stomach to peel and eat slimy banana. Here's your solution! This is not egg or gluten free... sorry Jen! I gotta work more on those sorts of recipes. 


Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened but not soft (about 10 seconds in the microwave for 10 minutes on a counter)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2 extra ripe bananas
5-6 cups flour (depends on your environment)


Directions
I use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this one. Cream together with the beater blade the butter, bananas, sugar, and eggs. When it's sort of incorporated start adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time. It will reach the consistency of a wet dough when it has enough flour. Better at this stage to add too little than too much. The dough will stick to your finger when you touch it. That's just fine. 


Put it in a bowl, cover tightly with saran wrap, and refrigerate overnight. 


The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Flour a nice cool surface liberally and turn about half the dough out. Flour the top well and roll the dough about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. Using your favorite cookie cutter (or a round glass if you don't have any), cut out cookies. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F degrees for about 10-20 minutes. You need to watch them. The tops will not look very different but the bottoms will brown nicely to the color of creamed coffee. Use a spatula to lift a cookie up and check. They will solidify into a shortbread texture. If you made a hockey puck, you went too far. 


Remove from tray onto a clean dish towel on the counter. I don't like cooling racks. Basically because washing them is a PITA (pain in the ass). If you want to use a rack, be my guest. 


Let them cool until room temp. If you didn't sprinkle them already with some colored sugar or sprinkles, you can put some icing on them. Here is the one I like. 


Icing Ingredients
5 tbsp butter
5 tbsp shortening
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 oz cream cheese


Directions
Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese, vanilla, and milk in your mixer with a whisk attachment. Get it nice and fluffy. 
Add in confectioners sugar slowly. 

Whip it, whip it good now. It should start to stand up and have some peaks. 



Add in any colorant. I found some green sugar on the clearance rack at the grocery story after Christmas. Sprinkled in about 2 tbsp of this to turn my icing a nice pretty green! 


Put icing in a piping bag with a round tip. My preference for all things cakes is Wilton. I grew up with them and even won a few contests as a kid! 


I did a simple swirl pattern on my round cookies and traced the outline of the airplanes. Super easy and looks really cute. 







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