Choc Chip Cookies (egg free, dairy free)

A cooking lesson this morning – for me.

Granddaughter Freya (5) came to visit. She loves to bake with me and today asked if we could bake chocolate chip cookies. . However, some adjustments needed to be made for dairy and egg sensitivities.

“Should I use coconut oil instead of butter Freya?”.

“I don’t think so Nanny, I don’t like that flavour in cookies.” So we used canola oil instead, which I happened to have on hand in the pantry.

As I know that mashed banana can be a substitute for eggs in baking. I pulled a largish banana out of the freezer. (I always freeze them when they are getting a bit ripe).

“Should I use all this banana Freya?”.

“No Nanny”. You should cut that one in half.”

And so the dough came together; a bit of an unusual texture, but then we added a very generous amount of dairy free choc buttons and I hoped for the best.

Well, I have to say these cookies are the best I ever tasted, crisp on the outside, soft in the centre with just a slight hint of banana flavour.

Freya proudly took them home to her mum and dad, I hastily wrote down the recipe and now I’m off to use up the other half of that banana in a batch for ourselves.

Just shows how much you can learn from littluns, as well as having a great deal of fun along the way.

Here’s the recipe Freya and I invented together

Freya’s Choc Chip Cookies

125g vegetable or canola oil

125g sugar

½ large ripe banana, mashed

270g self raising flour

250g dairy free choc buttons (less can be used)

Whisk the oil and sugar together until well combined, then stir in the flour and choc buttons.

Heat oven to 160 degrees C (fan forced). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Roll small tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on trays, allowing room for spreading. Flatten each ball slightly.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.