Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap & Banana Bread Sugar Cookies

Whoops I did it again...I made sugar cookies shaped like pieces of bread (or toast). This time they are banana bread sugar cookies! Have you read about enough cookie recipes yet? I certainly hope not, because I think these are worth your attention!

Today is the day where every food blogger who participated in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap posts the recipes for the cookie they sent out. Then next Monday Lindsay and Julie will host a HUGE roundup of everyone's posts! You better go out and stock up on butter, flour and sugar now because there's no way you won't want to bake after that.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap has been going on for 3 years now, and I've participated in the last two. You need to do it next year, it's awesome! You sign up in November and receive 3 names/addresses to send one dozen cookies to each. At the same time, 3 other people are baking and sending a dozen cookies to YOU. In early December (today), you post your recipe and then spend countless hours reading through all the other amazing cookies. You can signup to receive information about next year's event here. (And note: if you have certain allergies or dietary restrictions, you can still participate!)

Ok, now my cookies: First, I fell in love with the idea of banana bread cookies. Everyone loves banana bread; its warm, inviting, carb-y...right? Then was worried the idea was gross because not a lot of banana-flavored things go over well with people. Banana Laffy Taffy, banana Runts, banana pops? You get the idea. What it boils down to is FAKE banana flavoring. It's just a terrible thing.

These cookies have REAL bananas in them, in the form of ground freeze-dried bananas. I got the idea from Jaclyn at Cooking Classy with these strawberry sugar cookies. What a brilliant idea! My cookies may not have the wow-factor as far as color goes, but that's where the play on shape comes in. I owned a toast cookie cutter from last year's french toast cookies, but determined that it made too large of cookies. So I made my own cookie tracers and cut the dough by hand. It was a little time consuming, but I think the results were worth it!

The dough is also scented with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. It bakes into a soft and tender sugar cookie. Then I drizzled them with a brown sugar and cinnamon icing to add a little bit more warmth and dimension. I free-styled that recipe, but to give you a general idea: it was about 1/2 teaspoon molasses, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, milk and powdered sugar whisked together.

Overall, the banana flavor is faint...you may not even realize it's there upon first bite! I think these are great with a cup of warm tea. With the weather we've had here the past few days, it's a shame I didn't have any of these on hand. Rainy, cold weather deserves cookies. Thankfully, I actually did have some thanks to the following bloggers that sent me their creations!

• Pink Tiger in the Kitchen sent me chocolate-dipped snickerdoodles
• Balancing Motherhood sent blue-swirled sugar cookies
• First Time Foods made pecan tassies

What would YOU have made?

Banana Bread Sugar Cookies

Servings: 1-2 dozen, depending on size

2 1/4 + 2 tablespoons cake flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup ground freeze-dried bananas (~1 to 1 1/2 cup freeze dried bananas ground in a food processor into a fine powder)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

• In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together butter, shortening, and sugars for 3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and ground banana; set aside.

• Scrape down the sides of the standing mixer bowl. Add egg and beat until combined (30 seconds); then mix in remaining egg white and vanilla. Lastly, pour in the dry ingredients and mix on low until well combined. Shape dough into a flattened disk (~ 1 inch thick) and wrap down in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

• About 10 minutes before removing dough from the fridge, preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment or mat. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to around 1/4-1/3 inch thickness. Cut with desired cookie cutters. Gather and re-roll remaining down. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes (cookies will have puffed up slightly, and edges will have only faintly browned). Allow them to cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to continue cooling. Store in an airtight container for one week.

Notes: Adapted from Cooking Classy