We're big fans of baking around here, so when we noticed a recipe for rainforest cookies at the back of one of our rainforest books, of course we had to make them. It was educational.
This recipe includes many ingredients that are found in rainforests, including cinnamon, banana, sugar, vanilla, coconut, chocolate, and cashews (although we skipped the nuts at Maia's request). I like the idea of talking about the world around us based on the ingredients we cook with —I think we'll start doing this more.
Note: the banana makes these cookies nice and soft, but the taste is subtle.
Rainforest Cookies Recipe
(Adapted slightly from the recipe in The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan K. Mitchell)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/4 cups white wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup), softened
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped cashews (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Whisk flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Use an electric mixer to beat butter, banana, and sugars until creamy.
4. Mix in eggs and coconut.
5. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time, mixing after each addition.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and cashews (if using).
7. Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper-covered baking sheet.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
Enjoy!
P.S. This makes a lot of cookies! We only baked a third of them. For the other 2/3 we put a baking sheet of unbaked cookies in the freezer to flash freeze then put them in a freezer bag. That way we can pull some out and pop them in the oven (no need to thaw) anytime we want cookies. We do this with almost all the cookies we make.
