These 2 Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies are low-key genius. Combine nuts and banana, bake. When I first developed my 2 Ingredient Banana Coconut Cookies, I was amazed that something so simple as bananas and coconut could possibly combine to create anything that even remotely resembled a cookie. The same amazement applies to these 2 Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies (the basic version without add-ins is shown above, made with cashews). Now, Toll House these definitely are not, and they might be more accurately described as healthy snacks rather than dessert, but they’ve got me hooked.
The basic 2 Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies can be most accurately described as the quickest and simplest banana bread… with a hefty dose of nuttiness. Humble yet pleasing in their own right, they make an excellent base recipe on which to experiment with other flavor combinations. And they do serve an alternate purpose—replacing a classic treat (the conventional cookie) with a simpler and healthier alternative. They’re also free of some common allergens/digestive irritants: refined sugar, grain/gluten, dairy, and eggs.
To create the cookies (which, btw, are great for breakfast on-the-go), all you need are a few green-tipped bananas and nuts of your choice. When combined, they bake into soft, chewy cookies that are especially delicious when warm—and will fill your kitchen with the sweet smell of banana bread. When you’re ready to experiment with add-ins, I’ve included some favorite variations after the basic recipe at the bottom of this post. ♡
- Variation #1: Basic 2 Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies (bananas and nuts of choice)
- Variation #2: PB&J Thumbprint Cookies (bananas, peanuts, jam)
- Variation #3: Dressed-Up Chocolate Pecan (bananas, pecans, vanilla extract, cinnamon, dark chocolate, gold leaf)
- Variation #4: Chocolate Chunk with Strawberry Chia Jam (bananas, pecans, vanilla extract, dark chocolate, strawberries, coconut sugar, lemon juice, chia seeds)
Now I know what some of you are thinking. Five variations of a snack featuring bananas, an ingredient that’s neither seasonal nor local? And I’ll tell you: in addition to testing variations on this simple, delicious concept for y’all, I’ve been thinking a bit about the concept of “food miles”. Maybe because as we approach the deepest depths of winter, it seems more and more suspicious that grocery store aisles are still bursting with much the same produce as they were during the spring and summer. What faraway places do these fruits and vegetables call home? How much of our earth’s precious resources were expended to transport them to us here in the United States? With a recipe like these 2 Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies, one of the foremost sustainability considerations might be the impact on the climate resulting from the carbon footprint of imported bananas.
[clickToTweet tweet=”What other sustainability considerations may outweigh the importance of food miles?” quote=”What other sustainability considerations may outweigh the importance of food miles?”]
Determining the details of food’s carbon footprint is incredibly complicated. This article published back in 2014 effectively unpacks the nuances of food CO2 expenditure. Factors that may outweigh food miles in their impact on carbon footprint include:
- Growing conditions
- Storing and packaging inputs
- Waste reduction
What seems to have been known for a while (and yet still doesn’t seem to be widely acknowledged) is that fewer food miles do not equate with lower carbon emissions. Take the example of supermarket green beans imported from Kenya, mentioned in an even older article published in the UK in 2008. These are air-freighted to stores to allow consumers to buy fresh beans when local varieties are out of season, releasing carbon dioxide and trapping more and more sunlight… inexorably heating the planet. 😳 But the article makes a counter-argument:
“… A warning that beans have been air-freighted does not mean we should automatically switch to British varieties if we want to help the climate. Beans in Kenya are produced in a highly environmentally-friendly manner. ‘Beans there are grown using manual labor – nothing is mechanized,’ says Professor Gareth Edwards-Jones of Bangor University, an expert on African agriculture. ‘They don’t use tractors, they use cow muck as fertilizer; and they have low-tech irrigation systems in Kenya. They also provide employment to many people in the developing world. So you have to weigh that against the air miles used to get them to the supermarket.”
This isn’t simply a long justification for eating bananas on the regular—I suspect you probably already do—but instead a small summary of my recent investigation of a new-to-me twist (the effect of food miles on carbon footprint may be outweighed by other factors) that impacts a major topic (the merits of eating locally-sourced food). What’re your thoughts? Do you support local food? If so, to reduce your carbon footprint or for other reasons?
Ingredients
- 2 green-tipped bananas*2 cups nuts of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chop the nuts and mash together with the banana, or load both into a food processor and briefly combine.
- Spoon heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet, shape into rounds, then bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until browned.
- Serve warm.
The Comments
Neh
looks amazing, cant wait to try it xx thanks for sharing
Belle
Oh my! That looks amazing and so easy to make!
Sarah Jean Althouse
You had me at two ingredients!
Fresh Planet Flavor
Sarah Jean Althouse*High five*!
Alex from Happy Body Formula
LOVE the combo of bananas and nuts versus banana and oatmeal (seems like the rest of the two-ingredient recipes out there). Next time I just NEED a cookie… this is it 🙂
Fresh Planet Flavor
Alex from Happy Body FormulaYep, I’ve seen approximately 1,000,000 banana + oatmeal recipes… happy this little switch-up works. 🙂
Renee
Oh goodness this is perfect! We have so many gatherings in the next couple weeks and I need to bring some little treats for the girls – they will love these and all the variations! Thank you!
Clarissa
Love the variations! Such easy recipes and for much healthier late night treats. 😉
Emily Recipes to Nourish
Oh my goodness all of these cookies are so fun! I love how easy they are to make with only a few ingredients! I would happily enjoy some, especially the ones with the jam and the thumbprints!
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Emily Recipes to NourishThe thumbprint ones are so cute and fun to make with kids, I would think, also.
Jessica Sheppard
Banana nut cookies with coconut? Interesting, gonna give this recipe a try! Super simple for the win!
Alexa
What a genius idea! I am pinning this 🙂 I love shopping locally when I can! I feel great supporting the little guy and helping the planet is an added bonus!
Fresh Planet Flavor
AlexaHa, my point is that shopping locally may not automatically be better for the planet, and that there are other very important factors to consider in addition to how far the food traveled before reaching our plates.
Michelle @ Lillian Abbey
I love the versatility of bananas. This is definitely a recipe I need to try!
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Michelle @ Lillian AbbeyBananas make it possible to bake everythinnnnnnnnng! 🙂
Polly
I love how these cookies are so easy to make! That’s a plus for a busy mom like this! I’m going to pin this for later. 🙂
Fresh Planet Flavor
PollyQuick little snackies ftw!
andrea
Every one of your recipes looks delicious and so healthy too. Glad I found your site.
Rachel
I love banana nut bread but I’ve never heard of banana nut cookies. These sound delish!
Casey the College Celiac
Wowzers! I’m amazed how simple yet scrumptious these cookies are – and I love all of the different options to dress them up!
Leah
What a great idea! I can’t argue with how easy this is! Sounds yummy!
Kristen
these all look delicious! I love the sandwich cookies! my husband will love all of these!
Bella
Oh my gosh these look so good. I cant believe you only need to ingrednets!!
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BellaThe banana makes them stick together somehow… It’s genius.
Kimberly @ Berly's Kitchen
Yum! Can’t believe these are only 2 ingredients. They look so tasty.
Halle From Whole Lifestyle Nutrition
YUM!! I think I am going to have to try Version #4 — I am a sucker for jam! Looks amazing!
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Halle From Whole Lifestyle NutritionThese are secretly made with cranberry sauce… and they were so tasty! So that works too. 🙂
Quinn Caudill
Wow, amazing only two ingredients… Sounds healthy and good.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate
Whoa! What a great recipe — I love the thumbprint option! Great info on sustainability, too. Thanks!
lindsey maestas
Oh my goodness! These look absolutely amazing! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Cait Weingartner
Healthy, delicious, and simple… sounds perfect to me! I’m going to be making these tasty looking cookies soon. Thanks for sharing.
Erica Nicole
Those cookies are very interesting! I would have never have thought of that recipe! I have those ingredients in my house right now and I’m very tempted to try this tonight!
Fresh Planet Flavor
Erica NicoleYes, these cookies are wonderful because they use such common ingredients! Simple to whip up a quick little snack.
Irena from Eat Drink Paleo
High-key genius if you ask me! I love, love, love the variations and how easily they come together + how good they look when they’re done! Makes it so easy to whip up something sweet in a flash, even for guests.
ChihYu
These cookies look so PERFECT! They remind me of my mother-in-law’s banana nut cookies. Totally yum!
Bobbi | Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
WOW which one to make first? I am thinking the glam cookie is calling my name 🙂 every girl wants a little gold at Christmas right?
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Bobbi | Bobbi’s Kozy KitchenThey’re so fun! Not to mention flashy. 😀
Cristina
MIND. BLOWN. I can’t wait to make these!
alison abbott
You called it right two ingredients is genius! I can’t wait to try these myself. And healthy to boot!
Maggie Unzueta
These cookies look so yummy. Must print the recipe!
Katja
I love this! I am so making the chocolate pecan cookies. BRILLIANT!
Jessica DeMay
These look so good and I love all the variations. I love shopping local, knowing my farmer and where my food comes from. This is more in depth then I have thought about, so thank you for shedding some light on a fruit we all can count on for always being in the store.
Fresh Planet Flavor
Jessica DeMayExactly! Knowing your farmer is important… but the isolated fact that it’s imported may not make a food/ingredient automatically less eco-friendly than local food/ingredients.
Kelly
What a great and easy cookie! Love the different variations! YUM!
suzanne
2 ingredients! I’m totally sold. Everything looks so yummy!
Real Food with Dana
Low-key genius? I think not…Veeeeery high-key (if that’s a thing?) genius!! love how simple these are, and how many variations you came up with!!
Kari Peters
2 Ingredients always sounds like a good idea for a quick sweet treat, and I love all the variations too!
Taesha
What a beautifully simple cookie! Perfect for breakfasts on the go!
Kelly Bejelly
These look to be the perfect bite of healthy and delicious all in the same bite. Although that might be a good thing considering that we all will be returning to normal after all the holiday craziness! Love it.
Becky Winkler (A Calculated Whisk)
Well these are just genious, and I love all the gorgeous variations! I do try to eat local food, but not to the extent of giving up things that don’t grow here in TN. My efforts to eat local are partly for the environment, partly because the food tastes better, and partly because I like to know exactly how the food is grown. I do love me some bananas, though, and the other considerations you brought up are really interesting.
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Becky Winkler (A Calculated Whisk)Knowing exactly how food is grown is important. That’s one of the reasons to eat local that resonates with me most!
Michele Spring
These cookies look incredible (as does everything you post). That is definitely an interesting point of view about the beans and the sustainability aspect. I support local as much as I can for both environmental reasons but also to help support my local economy, but yeah, you have me thinking now about how things are grown elsewhere.
Fresh Planet Flavor
Michele SpringIt’s a different point of view, isn’t it? The dogma of “eat local” is so prevalent that I was surprised to find an alternate perspective, and wanted to be sure to share with my readers.
Carrie Forrest
Oh my! These look like the PERFECT breakfast cookies to start my day. Light, delicious, simple, and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
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Carrie ForrestI literally had some for breakfast this morning (the thumbprints). They are ace!
Lenore Bonicioli
I keep reading about how good the coconut and banana cookies are and no where is the recipe!!! I have too keep signing up for more websites.
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Lenore BonicioliIt’s on this page, Lenore. Did you click “read more” after the preview?
Candace
Fresh Planet FlavorI couldn’t find the coconut/banana recipe either. Using nuts sounds interesting but the coconut is just so perfect…. and everyone just has to try using a coffee scoop to form the cookies. The madeleine look of the cookies makes a big difference. Methinks you also need a search function.
Fresh Planet Flavor
CandaceYou’re on the wrong post! The banana coconut recipe is here: https://heyrachelmarion.com/2-ingredient-banana-coconut-cookies/. I also have a search function in the top right of this site. It’s a little magnifying glass icon.
30+ No Sugar Desserts (Paleo, Gluten Free) - Healy Eats Real
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Michelle
Was looking forward to trying the basic recipe, and the pecan variation, but I find that somehow, instead of your post showing all the different variation recipes, the same raspberry chia recipe is just shown over and over again. I know this is an older post, but I hope you will see this and fix this problem, as I would really like to try theses recipes! Thanks.
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MichelleShould be fixed now! Thanks for the heads up…
Sandy
Was looking for a way to use almond pulp when I ran across your recipe for two ingredient cookies. I used a banana and added in a sufficient amount of the almond pulp. Thinking they might not be sweet enough, I added a teaspoon of honey; They were terrific! Next time I will not use the honey. Thank you so very much for sharing this recipe.
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SandyYummmmmmm!