Banana Nut Shortbread

Who doesn't love the taste of Banana Bread? Well, this delightful recipe gives you all that banana and walnut goodness in a buttery shortbread!

These cookies with their rich maple flavored icing are the perfect bite-sized treats. With the holidays approaching (yup, it's September already!) these are great cookies to file away for your holiday baking. They'd work great on a cookie tray or in a cute little box.

I loved the flavor in these with the classic taste of banana, brown sugar, and cinnamon topped off with a maple glaze. I sliced them in little rectangles but you could even use small decorative cookie cutters if you chose. Regardless, they'll be a hit!

Banana Nut Shortbread

The great taste of Banana Bread in a buttery shortbread cookie!

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup mashed rip banana (about 1/2 of a medium banana)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts 

Maple Glaze 

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tbs. milk
• 1/4 tsp. maple flavoring

Cooking Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat together the butter, banana and vanilla until smooth. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours in the refrigerator or until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 300°. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter mixture until the mixture resembles fine crumbs and begins to come together in clumps. Stir in chopped nuts. Knead dough with hands until smooth. Form into a ball and divide dough in half.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough half into an 8x6-inch rectangle. Cut each rectangle into 16 pieces (about 2x1 1/2 inch each). Place rectangles one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake about 30 minutes or just until bottoms begin to brown. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool and drizzle with maple glaze. Let stand until icing is set.
5. Maple Glaze
6. In a medium bowl combine powdered sugar, 1 to 2 tbs. of milk and 1/4 tsp. of maple flavoring. Whisk together to make a smooth glaze of drizzling consistency. 

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes per batch

Total time: 2 hours

Yield: 32 cookies

Posted in: Cookies