These peanut butter banana cookies are soft-baked with crisp edges and packed with wholesome flavor! Made with simple pantry staples, they’re the perfect way to turn overripe bananas into a delicious dessert or great snack.
Jessica’s Recipe Science
- Creaming the butter and sugars incorporates air pockets that help the cookies rise, with a cakey, soft texture when baked.
- Smooth peanut butter adds richness and structure. Mashed banana provides moisture for tenderness and natural sugars.
- Chilling the dough firms up the fats, slows spreading, leading to a thicker and softer texture.
Why It Works
When you’re craving the nostalgia of a peanut butter cookie recipe but also want the cozy sweetness of banana bread, here is the best of both worlds. Mashed banana adds natural sugars, moisture, and a tender crumb, while the creamy peanut butter provides richness and structure. The classic fork-pressed crosshatch ensures that signature peanut butter cookie look. The result is a treat that’s soft-baked with a slightly chewy texture.
This recipe is perfect to make when you have ripe bananas sitting on the counter. The dough comes together quickly and chills briefly to help the flavors meld and the cookies bake up with the right structure. A sprinkle of sugar on top adds sparkle and crunch, while optional chopped peanuts bring texture to each bite. I like to make these as a fun after school snack for my kids, a cookie exchange, or to satisfy a peanut butter craving.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
- Flour: All-purpose flour contains 10-13% protein, giving the cookies a chewy and cake-like texture.
- Peanut Butter: I recommend using a creamy peanut butter spread with no added sugars, like Skippy. You can use products with sugar, but the cookie will be sweeter.
- Banana: Use ripe speckled-to-brown bananas. The starches convert to a higher level of fructose, making the mash a natural sweetener in the dough. You’ll need one large or two medium bananas.
- Leavening agents: The balance of baking soda and baking powder provides just enough lift to keep the cookies soft and puffy, rather than dense.
- Butter: Use softened butter at room temperature to properly cream the fat and sugars together, creating air pockets for structure in the soft-baked cookie.
- Sweeteners: Granulated sugar adds a gleaming sweetness and light crispness around the edges. Light brown sugar adds a hint of molasses and is a humectant to keep the cookies moist.
- Eggs: Using two eggs creates a soft and tender texture and binds the ingredients.
- Flavoring: A touch of cinnamon enhances the warm baked banana flavor. Salt prevents the cookies from tasting bland. A generous amount of vanilla extract delivers sweet aromas as they bake.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
These easy peanut butter banana cookies are great to customize! Try these delicious options:
- Peanut Butter Swaps: For a more interesting texture, use crunchy peanut butter. Natural homemade peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter.
- Flour: Use gluten-free flour for dietary restrictions. Cake flour will give an even more delicate texture.
- Mix-ins: Try adding dried fruit, such as cranberries or raisins. Add chocolate chips or shredded coconut. Add chopped peanuts, pecans, walnuts, or roasted pumpkin seeds for crunch!
- Flavoring: Add nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice. Add banana extract or almond extract to enhance the fruit and nut notes.
- Add Oats: Make healthy peanut butter banana cookies by adding oatmeal for fiber. You can use ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats for chew, or instant oats that blend more easily into the batter.
- Toppings: For a more decadent taste, add cream cheese frosting, sugar cookie frosting, or sugar cookie icing on top.
How to Make Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
Step 1: Preheat the Oven
Baking the cookies in a 350°F (177 °C) oven provides a moderate temperature for the dough to achieve a soft, tender texture with a golden brown color. Lining the baking sheets with parchment paper prevents sticking and allows the cookies to spread uniformly.
Step 2: Mix Dry Ingredients
Whisking the dry ingredients evenly disperses the salt, spices, and leavening agents throughout the flour, preventing clumps and ensuring consistent flavor and rise.
Step 3: Cream the Butter
Creaming the butter with the sugars incorporates air into the mixture, creating tiny pockets that help the cookies rise and remain soft, rather than dense.
Step 4: Add the Flavoring and Eggs
Adding the peanut butter early ensures its fat is evenly distributed, coating the flour later to limit excess gluten development for a softer bite. The mashed banana brings in moisture and natural sugars, while the eggs provide structure through protein coagulation, trapping air for lift. Vanilla is briefly mixed in at the end.
Tips for Perfect Execution: Mixing the eggs one at a time helps build a stable emulsion so the dough bakes up tender and cohesive.
Step 5: Add Dry Ingredients
Mixing the dry ingredients on low speed minimizes gluten development, keeping the cookies soft instead of tough.
Ingredient Chemistry: Chilling the dough for at least 20 minutes firms up the butter and peanut butter fats, making it easier to roll, slowing the spreading in the oven, and giving the cookies a thicker, chewier texture.
Step 6: Shape the Cookies
Rolling the dough into uniform balls ensures even baking and a round shape. The sugar topping caramelizes slightly, making the dough less sticky when using a fork to create the crosshatch pattern. The crosshatch flattens the dough for even and quicker baking. I like to press chopped peanuts onto the surface for texture and a nutty aroma, but this is optional.
Experimentation Encouraged: Instead of making cookie dough balls, use a 3 tablespoon size cookie scoop to make drop cookies. They may not be perfectly rounded on the edges, resulting in a more rustic appearance.
Step 7: Bake
Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, making sure there is at least 2-inches of space between. Baking one tray at a time ensures steady, even heat, allowing the cookies to cook uniformly.
Expert Tip: Pulling the cookies when the edges are golden brown and the centers puffed means the starches and egg proteins have set, locking in structure while keeping the middle soft and chewy.
Step 8: Cool
Allowing the cookies to cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes lets carryover heat finish setting the centers without over-baking. A wire rack for cooling prevents steam from trapping underneath, while keeping the bottoms crisp.
Frequently Asked Questions
For the sweetest banana taste, wait until the skin starts to have a good amount of brown spots or is completely brown, and starts to feel a bit soft. This indicates that most of the starches have converted to sugars, around 5% fructose.
Ripe frozen bananas are great for mashing to make a puree for the cookies. Defrost, mash, and mix in the juices that may have separated.
These are soft-baked cookies, so they will become softer after the first day. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
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Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to 65 to 67ºF (18 to 20ºC)
- 1 cup granulated sugar, more for sprinkling
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter, no sugar added
- ½ cup mashed banana
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the Oven – Set oven rack to the middle position. Preheat to 350°F (177°C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix Dry Ingredients – In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Cream the Butter – Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the Flavoring and Eggs – Add peanut butter and combine on low speed, 15 seconds. Add mashed banana and mix for 15 seconds. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl down as needed, about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and mix for 15 second.
- Add Dry Ingredients – Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Chill the dough for 20 minutes.
- Shape the Cookies – Roll dough into 3 tablespoon-sized balls, spacing them 2" apart on the sheet pan, about 9 per tray. Sprinkle some sugar on top of each ball. Use a fork to press and make crosshatch marks on the top of the cookies. If desired, sprinkle chopped peanuts on top, lightly pressing in to the surface.
- Bake – Bake on tray at a time in the center of the oven until the edges set and golden and the centers puff up, 12 to 13 minutes.
- Cool – Let them cool for 10 minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely before serving.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Topping: Press some chopped peanuts into the surface of the cookie before baking for extra crunch.
- Storing: Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Elisa says
I’m so happy to have found this recipe – now I can enjoy one of my favourite combos (peanut butter + bananas… and cinnamon of course! ) in a lovely cookie! A bit too sweet to my taste, even if I reduced the amount of sugar, but I cannot wait to experiment more with the recipe. Thank you!