Hi, I’m Gaelyn. I’m John’s wife, and apparently now a guest writer on this blog, because I made cookies with the bananas that had been quietly turning brown on our counter for six days. Two of them. Soft, spotty, the kind that get vetoed at breakfast and then sit there guilting you.
Here’s what I did with them. Three ingredients. The whole batch is out of the oven in about ten minutes. They taste like banana bread that finally decided to grow up.
Why spotty bananas are the secret
The browner the banana, the sweeter it gets. As the fruit ripens, the starch breaks down into sugar, which is exactly what you want when you’re making something with no added sugar at all. The uglier they look on your counter, the better they bake.
So if your bananas are past the point of breakfast, you’re in luck. They’ll save you a step.
I keep a small stash going. As soon as a banana is too sad to eat raw, it gets put aside for baking. By the time I have two of them, it’s cookie day.
The recipe (only three ingredients)
You’ll need:
- 2 spotty bananas, mashed
- 3 scoops protein powder (your favorite, more on that below)
- About 1/3 cup prepared PBfit (peanut butter powder mixed with water per the bag)
That’s it. The toppings are optional, but I wouldn’t skip them:
- Dark chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt
Yields 8 small cookies
Method. Heat the oven to 350°F. Mash the bananas in a bowl until they’re mostly smooth, a few lumps are fine. Add the protein powder and the prepared PBfit. Stir until you have a thick, sticky dough. (Bonus you can eat the dough since its egg free) Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press a few chocolate chips into the top of each one and finish with a tiny pinch of flaky salt.
Bake for ten minutes. Eat warm.
That’s the whole thing.
What protein powder to use
The protein powder is doing the work flour usually does, I use a plant based protein but you can take your pick:
- Plant-based protein I used Orgain Horchata flavor for mine this time, but you can use vanilla or chocolate too.
- Whey isolate I’ve heard gives a slightly cakier crumb.
- Casein if you use it, might make them denser, more like a soft brownie.
- Vanilla flavor is a go too base that works will with all the flavors.
I used three scoops, which turned out great. I may experiment with doing a few more scoops (fer the gains) and see if it doesn’t compromise the composition. But for now, my rec is 3 because I know it works!
How they actually turn out
Honest answer: more cake than cookie. They come out soft, banana-bread textured, with melted chocolate on top and a little salt to keep things interesting. They’re not crisp. They’re not chewy. They’re their own thing.
If you want crisp, this isn’t the recipe for you. If you want a warm, soft, mostly-protein snack that uses up your sad bananas and takes ten minutes start to finish, you’re in the right place.
I usually eat one right out of the oven and save the rest in a container on the counter or pop in the fridge. They keep for two days at room temperature and longer in the fridge, but I can’t personally confirm anything past day two because they’ve never lasted that long in this house.
A note on “guilt-free”
I put that phrase in air quotes on Instagram because I don’t love it. Food doesn’t need to be guilt-free, you don’t owe anyone a defense for eating a cookie. What I meant was: if you’re already lifting and trying to hit a protein number, this is one of the easier ways to get there that doesn’t taste like a bar.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition’s position stand on protein puts daily intake for active people at roughly 1.4 to 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight, well above the generic RDA. So a sweet treat that helps you tally protein points with low calories and counts towards something is awesome.
I have John’s app on my phone. I voice-log them. The estimate comes back close enough. If you want more on why generic calculators undershoot for people who actually train, the TrakMac FAQ covers it.
Download TrakMac
Make the cookies. Eat them warm. Then, if you want help tracking the rest of the day without weighing every meal, Download TrakMac free.. It’s voice-first, it’s iOS, and it’s the reason my husband no longer asks me to estimate his lunch.