I love Banana Bread but sometimes I don't feel like baking an entire loaf (it's not the baking, it's the waiting for it to be completely cooled part) This is when it's time to make my quick and easy recipe for Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies. They are a delicious bite-sized version of classic banana bread. They are a perfect marriage between cookies and muffin tops with a tender crumb.
If you have an abundance of bananas ready to be used up, make sure to check out my Gluten Free Banana Snack Cake, Gluten Free Chocolate Banana Bread, or my Gluten Free Banana Scones
For more Cake-like cookies check out my Gluten Free Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
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Recipe Ingredient Notes
Gluten Free Flour: I tested this recipe with my own Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour Blend as well as Bob’s Red Mill 1 – to 1. Both flours worked very well in this recipe.
Milk Powder: Milk powder is an optional ingredient to add to this recipe. It enhances the taste of the baked goods by adding just a hint of sweetness as well as a creamier texture (think of it as an additional emulsifier). It also helps with the browning of your gluten free baked vanilla donuts
Banana: for this recipe, you need just 125 grams of ripe but not mushy banana. I actually preferred using yellow bananas with a lot of brown spots in my recipes. You can also use frozen bananas for this recipe.
To freeze bananas, just place them with their peel in the freezer. When I am ready to use them, I place them in a bowl and allow for them to thaw at room temperature. Please be aware that they will release some liquid. You may discard that liquid.
Cream Cheese: I use full-fat cream cheese in the frosting.
How to make Banana Bread Cookie Dough
This recipe for Banana Bread Cookies is very simple and can be made in less than one hour. Please make sure your butter and your eggs are at room temperature. The dough does have to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge but this mainly helps with scooping. I do not like messing with sticky doughs.
- Start by sifting together the gluten-free flour, corn starch, milk powder (if using), baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the room temperature butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix for 5 minutes at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Halfway through, pause to scrape the bowl and beater with a flexible spatula.
- Add the whole egg and egg yolk and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides.
- With the mixer running on low, add your dry ingredients and mix until the wet ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Turn off your mixer and remove the bowl from the mixer. With a flexible spatula fold in the chopped-up bananas until combined. The dough may appear loose and more like a cake/muffin batter. It seems tempting to add more flour but please don't.
- Place your mixing bowl in your refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow your dough to firm up.
How to bake Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies
Depending on how ripe your bananas are, your dough may be on the softer side and can be frustrating to scoop. This is why it is important to allow your dough to rest 30 minutes (up to 12 hours).
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Line two sheet trays with parchment paper.
- I recommend using a cookie scoop (I use #20) and scoop 6 cookies on a parchment-lined sheet tray. The cookies do spread so six cookies seem to be the perfect number here. You should get between 10-12 cookies out of this dough.
- Bake your cookies at 350F for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly golden in color. Your cookies should be puffy and look like muffin tops.
- Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the sheet tray and then transfer them to a cooling rack for them to cool completely.
- Repeat with the second tray of cookies.
- Once all the cookies are fully cooled, they are ready to be frosted.
- For the frosting combine room temperature butter and cream cheese and mix until smooth, add powdered sugar, salt and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.
How to frost and decorate your cookies
I chose to frost my gluten free banana bread cookies with a traditional cream cheese frosting. If you would like to keep this recipe dairy-free, I recommend using a glaze. I highly recommend checking out my Maple Glaze or my Chocolate Glaze. Both recipes can be made with plant-based dairy.
There are many options when it comes to decorating those Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies. A very delicious way to decorate them is using some chopped-up Cinnamon Spiced Pecans or Candied Coffee Walnuts from my Gluten Free Whiskey Coffee Caramel Sundae.
Frequently asked questions for Banana Bread Cookies
Can I add add-ins to the batter?
Yes! But I do not recommend adding more than 50g to 75g total. This cookie would be very good with dark chocolate or nuts such as pecans or walnuts.
Can I freeze the cookie dough?
I have not frozen the unbaked cookie dough but have frozen the baked, unfrosted cookies.
How should I store my cookies?
I recommend storing the baked, frosted (or unfrosted) cookies in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Can I make this recipe vegan?
While I have made this recipe dairy-free (use your favorite dairy-free butter and omit the milk powder), I have not tested it with egg replacements.
Can I make this recipe with "regular flour"?
Please replace the gluten free flour with 215 g of "regular flour"
📖 Recipe
Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies
These Gluten Free Banana Cookies taste like a slice of your favorite banana bread and are topped with a delectable cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 100 grams light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 220 grams gluten free multi purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon milk powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2 grams) kosher salt
- 115-125 grams of ripe, chopped banana (not mashed)
Frosting
- 65 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 115 grams cream cheese, nearly at room temperature
- 175 - 250 grams powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you like your frosting)
- 1 pinch of kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla exract
Instructions
How to make the Banana Bread Cookie Dough
- Start by sifting together the gluten-free flour, corn starch, milk powder (if using), baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the room temperature butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix for 5 minutes at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Halfway through, pause to scrape the bowl and beater with a flexible spatula.
- Add the whole egg and egg yolk and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides.
- With the mixer running on low, add your dry ingredients and mix until the wet ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Turn off your mixer and remove the bowl from the mixer. With a flexible spatula fold in the chopped-up bananas until combined. The dough may appear loose and more like a cake/muffin batter. It seems tempting to add more flour but please don't.
- Place your mixing bowl in your refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow your dough to firm up.
How to bake Gluten Free Banana Bread Cookies
- When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F.
- Line two sheet trays with parchment paper.
- I recommend using a cookie scoop (I use #20) and scoop 6 cookies on a parchment-lined sheet tray. The cookies do spread so six cookies seem to be the perfect number here. You should get between 10-12 cookies out of this dough.
- Bake your cookies at 350F for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly golden in color. Your cookies should be puffy and look like muffin tops.
- Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the sheet tray and then transfer them to a cooling rack for them to cool completely.
- Repeat with the second tray of cookies.
- Once all the cookies are fully cooled, they are ready to be frosted.
How to make the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Mix together room temperature butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Start out by adding 100 grams of powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar (remember you can always add more if you would like your frosting to be sweeter), salt and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Use a small off set or butter knife and frost your cookies. Decorate as desired
Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days in your refrigerator.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 15505
Bianca says
Seeing these appear I could not go past the whimsically full and fluffy appearance of these banana bread cookies. They were simple to prepare and had a wonderfully rich cinnamon aroma. I love a moorish cookie!
I feel that they could also be tweaked according to flavor preference; a warm ginger bread cookie for example.
As a novice baker the steps were clear and concise for me to follow & I appreciated the detailed ‘how to’ notes. Personally, I also prefer measurements to be given to the gram as well; if something does not turn out as expected knowing that the measurements were followed then gives idea of where else one may have been ‘off’ (oven temp etc).
Thank you for the recipe!
Megan says
Somehow they melt in your mouth and crumble at the same time?! I absolutely love these and the recipe was super easy to follow. I probably should've chopped the banana into smaller pieces, but the bigger chunks are gooey and yummy! I made these mini (per usual) so I can share with classmates. (:
Lisa says
I loved this recipe! The texture of these cookies is just an amazing fusion between crumbly cookie and fluffy cake!
As I am not gluten-free, I used the suggested amount of all-purpose flour and they turned out amazing. I cannot wait to make the pumpkin ones next!
Also they were already lovely without the cream cheese icing but adding it took them to the next level. 🤍
Daniela Weiner says
I am so happy to hear they were a winner!
Kelley Palmatier says
These are delicious. I made two batches in one week. I left the powdered sugar in the frosting just at 100g so it wasn’t as sweet!
Tina R. says
These are so delicious! Due to some allergies we did make some substitutions, but the taste is on point! Instead of a milk powder, I added collagen peptides (next time I’ll leave it out to see if it makes a difference); subbed 4TBSP Aquafaba for the eggs, and used Earth Balance vegan butter (leaving out salt in the frosting because it’s not unsalted). The cream cheese frosting, next time I would half the recipe. I love things sweet, but we found it was too much frosting for the cookie, overpowering it a bit - which I would never think I would say! If you double the batch for the cookies, it’s probably perfect for that amount. The cookie was a bit crumbly, but that can be due to the substitutions and I’m not really sure what could have caused it without trying things differently next time. Either way, it’s soooo good and worth making! Highly recommend! Oh! Also, I did Daniela’s flour blend for this. So yeah, could be lots of factors. If you make it per the instructions exactly, you’ll likely have no issues, but if you need to sub things, this is just a heads up of a possibility. Still a huge hit in our house though!
Daniela says
Thank you for your feedback. Collagen Peptides are not a recommended substitute for milk powder. As you mentioned, you changed many factors in the cookies and it's no surprise they did turn out a different texture.
Claire B says
I've made these three times now and will definitely make them again because they are so good! Love how the recipe calls for chunks of banana instead of mashed.