Flourless Banana, Peanut Butter and Coconut Cookies, with Chocolate Drizzle

These tasty and chewy cookies started with a minor disappointment: I’ve tried one of the popular recipes for flourless peanut butter cookies (the ones that contain only peanut butter, sugar (or sweetener) and an egg), and the result was not as exciting for me as it was for a lot of the online reviewers. I thought the cookies were on the boring side taste-wise, and found their texture too crumbly to handle.
However, by then I was already in “flourless peanut butter recipe” mood, so I started to add “this and that” to the original recipe. The cookies here are the result of that process.
They are tasty on their own right, but the chocolate drizzle adds another layer of flavor, which goes so well with all the ingredients.
Try them and decide for yourself.

A couple of notes:
* Unsweetened, all-natural peanut butter has a fairly coarse texture, which is perfect for these cookies. I’m not sure how well the recipe will work with creamy/sweeter types of peanut butter, and can only assume it will.
* I used coconut palm sugar here, as I was curious about this type of sugar, which is new to me. It worked quite well and the result was not too sweet, as I usually prefer. Yet, another batch, made with soft brown sugar, turned out to be quite similar, so feel free to substitute if you don’t have coconut sugar.
* If you prefer sweeter cookies, you can increase the amount to ¾-1 cup.
* Freezing: place the tray with the cookies in the freezer and let them freeze before storing in an airtight container. This way they will not stick together.

Makes: about 40 (small)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 14 minutes
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (from 1 small)
1 XL egg
1 cup unsweetened natural peanut butter
½ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
1/3 cup coconut palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp cardamom or cinnamon
For the chocolate drizzle:
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 335F (170C). Line a cookie sheet with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the egg and banana. Add the peanut butter, coconut, sugar, salt, vanilla and cardamom and mix well. The dough will be quite sticky.
3. With slightly wet hands, roll the dough into about 40 small balls and place in the pan. Press the top with a fork, to flatten the cookies and create a pattern.

4. Bake for 14 minutes, or until the top is firm and the bottom is golden. Let cool to room temperature in the pan.

5. The chocolate drizzle: place the chocolate chips in a bowl. Heat the heavy cream to almost boil, and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1-2 minutes and then stir well, until the chocolate melts. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Let set before serving.