Where Have All the Flours Gone
Pantry Turnover, Part 2: Banana Flour 🍌
April 24, 2020
I don’t know why I bought Banana Flour one day so long ago… but there it sits in my pantry neglected. So I am going to try it, and other flours, out in chocolate chips cookies, a sure fire way for me to easily turn it over if the results are yummy. This is the first in a series: Where Have All the Flours Gone? Dedicated to the obscure and underused flours in my pantry.
Made from dried and ground green bananas, banana flour is gluten-free and apparently not very… banana-y! It’s very starchy… so starchy that you don’t have to use as much of it as you would, say, all purpose flour. You will see two versions of the turnover recipe below. One using half banana flour/half APF batch and another using all banana flour. Let’s see how it turns out!
Half Banana Flour Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dry:
1/4 cup banana flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. sea salt
chocolate chips, as you heart sees fit
Wet:
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 and 1/2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/8 tsp. blackstrap molasses
2 Tablespoons canola oil
splash of water as needed
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Roll out some parchment paper on a baking sheets.
Step 2: In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Stir them all together.
Step 3: Combine all wet in a small bowl or measuring cup. I usually measure out the syrup in a glass measuring cup and combine the rest right into the cup. When adding blackstrap molasses, coat the measuring spoon with an oiled finger. This way it all runs off the spoon. Mix all wet well with a rubber spatula.
Step 4: Pour wet into dry and stir well. The liquids have different viscosities, so use the rubber spatula to scrape cup clean as some of the syrup and molasses try to stay along the wall. The dough should be shiny and thick, like below. Add more flour if it’s too wet. Give it a small splash of water if it’s too dry.
Step 5: Drop a heaping teaspoon or so of dough spaciously on the two baking sheets and bake for only 10-11 minutes. You may think they are not ready at this time, but resist the urge to keep them in any longer.
Step 6: Let them sit untouched for 2 minutes. Meantime, get the cooling racks ready.
Step 7: Carefully transfer them to the cooling racks. I use a frosting knife (not a spatula) to do this. And I wipe it with a rag or paper towel as it encounters melty chocolate chips. Using a spatula can alter the beautiful bottoms of the cookies and smear them sloppily with melted chocolate.
Step 8: Cool them for only 10 minutes. Put this on the timer. If they cool to long, they’ll get harder and crunchier. After 10 minutes, carefully place them in a airtight container and store at room temperature. Though they are spectacular right out of the oven, once store, cookies texture and flavor develop wonderfully.
Conclusion: Cookies were dry but soft–and not that delicious. The characteristic flavor components of chocolate chip cookies were indiscernible–molasses, salt, sweetness–overtaken by a one-note that tasted like a bland, vegan cookie from a hippie health food store in 1996. 👎
Banana Flour Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dry:
1/2 cup banana flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. sea salt
chocolate chips, as you heart sees fit
Wet:
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 and 1/2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/8 tsp. blackstrap molasses
2 Tablespoons canola oil
splash of water as needed
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Roll out some parchment paper on a baking sheets.
Step 2: In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Stir them all together.
Step 3: Combine all wet in a small bowl or measuring cup. I usually measure out the syrup in a glass measuring cup and combine the rest right into the cup. When adding blackstrap molasses, coat the measuring spoon with an oiled finger. This way it all runs off the spoon. Mix all wet well with a rubber spatula.
Step 4: Pour wet into dry and stir well. The liquids have different viscosities, so use the rubber spatula to scrape cup clean as some of the syrup and molasses try to stay along the wall. The dough should be shiny and thick, like below. Add more flour if it’s too wet. Give it a small splash of water if it’s too dry.
Step 5: Drop a heaping teaspoon or so of dough spaciously on the two baking sheets and bake for only 10-11 minutes. You may think they are not ready at this time, but resist the urge to keep them in any longer.
Step 6: Let them sit untouched for 2 minutes. Meantime, get the cooling racks ready.
Step 7: Carefully transfer them to the cooling racks. I use a frosting knife (not a spatula) to do this. And I wipe it with a rag or paper towel as it encounters melty chocolate chips. Using a spatula can alter the beautiful bottoms of the cookies and smear them sloppily with melted chocolate.
Step 8: Cool them for only 10 minutes. Put this on the timer. If they cool to long, they’ll get harder and crunchier. After 10 minutes, carefully place them in a airtight container and store at room temperature. Though they are spectacular right out of the oven, once store, cookies texture and flavor develop wonderfully.
Conclusion: Cookies were even less yummy than the first batch. There was something even dog treat-y about them. Something about the sandy texture. I would not be using the remainder of my banana flour for chocolate chip cookies! 👎 File under: Good to know.
Next up on Where Have All the Flours Gone: Millet Flour!
Is this song in your head now? Though there are many versions of this folk classic, Joan Baez’s is the one I think of when I think of the song. Cuz Joan Baez is bad ass.