This school year we hosted a small group in our home through our church and many weeks made a batch of cookies to serve them. Throughout the year we made a variety of cookies and other desserts, which was fun because this group enjoys goodies as much as we do! One recipe we made was these Double Chocolate Cookies. It is from the cookbook, The Shared Kitchen.

My friend Beth gifted me this book that she found at Anthropologie. It’s written by an Australian woman, Clare Scrine, who lives communally and writes about their shared life of cooking and eating. All of the recipes are creative takes on vegan and vegetarian dishes. The book is organized around fruit and vegetable staples in their home- and ways to be resourceful with these ingredients, lest they get wasted in the back of the produce drawer of the fridge.

This recipe is in the Banana section. If you know there is banana in them, you taste the banana. Or if you are keen to taste notes. However, the cookie’s texture (crunchy edge and fudgy center) and their dark chocolate color, disguise the look and feel of bananas. The cookies also include Tahini, which is an unusual ingredient in a cookie for me.

While these cookies are not remarkable looking, they are remarkably yummy. They are crowd pleasing, and yet a little different than a traditional chocolate chip cookie. (Though I have a deep fondness for chocolate chip cookies.) These are more like a brownie-meets-cookie combination.

Fudgy Double Chocolate Cookies

Makes 12-15 cookies

From the Shared Kitchen cookbook.

“The banana acts as a binder, assisting with a chewy, brownie-like texture and some extra sweetness. Unlike in many banana-baked goods, I prefer not to use overripe bananas, as they add too strong a flavour. Also, chocolate is the real hero here, so use good cocoa powder, and ideally a mix of types of chocolate chips (I like some super dark and some more milky).” Clare Scrine recipe author

1 small banana (not too ripe)

 ⅔ cup vegetable or canola oil (or another neutral oil)

1 Tbsp tahini

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp flaky sea salt or coarse salt

½ cup (40 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1¼ cups (185 g) all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

5½ oz mixed chocolate chips or chunks

Blend or mash the banana until smooth. Add the vegetable oil, tahini, sugar and vanilla and whisk well until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the salt, cocoa powder, flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix gently until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir thoroughly to combine.

Transfer to the fridge for at least 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up (the uncooked dough will also keep for up to 2 days in the fridge).

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking tray with parchment.

Roll the cookie dough into 15-20 evenly sized balls and place them on the baking tray, pressing them slightly to flatten and leaving space between each one to allow for spreading.

Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes, until they’re just cracked and have spread into a nice cookie shape. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. They’ll harden and shrink a little, but don’t worry if they feel very soft.

Enjoy the cookies warm and fresh, or leave them to cool completely in the fridge. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Other cookies we made were: Our favorite Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe: Scrumptious Chocolate Chip Cookies. These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies which are versatile in what you add into them and an essential recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. (They make a huge batch which is great for taking to events- road trips, move in days, etc.). If you want to make Mega Chocolate Chip Cookies for a big wow, follow my daughter Lucy’s lead and make these Cookies from Levain Bakery (in New York) that she introduced me to this year. She made them for group and people went on and on about them.

This summer as you are going on road trips, sending off friends, welcoming new neighbors, or attending picnics, you can’t go wrong with sharing some homemade cookies.