In 2012, I was a theater intern in New York. I moved into the city the day before my internship started and lived in an overpriced bedroom with no windows on 10th Ave. One of my favorite things to do was brave the masses in the Theater District and walk past the marquees of shows I couldn’t afford to see. On my way through, I noticed a cookie place with a striped blue and white wall on the outside and an image of a kid and a dog next to a cookie jar. This was my introduction to Schmackary’s, a place I became so obsessed with that when Super Storm Sandy came later that year, I stopped off at Schmackary’s on my way home from the theater to stock up on cookies for the next couple of days.
These cookies were just as new to the city as I was and have since become a huge staple in the theater world. Every now and again, I crave a large bite of New York comfort and Broadway dazzle. When I started my #52weeks52cookies project, I wanted to recreate a Schmackary’s offering. I handed my mother a menu and told her to choose. She picked the “Chunky Monkey,” and thus, these 45th Street Banana Chunk cookies were created.
Now, these aren’t the same as what Schmackary’s sells, but the flavors are inspired by their creations and I’m pretty pleased with the results. My father, who isn’t one to eat sweets, ate one for breakfast and when I brought these into work, they were gone before the day was through.
The cookies are light, soft, and chewy on the inside, almost like a small piece of banana bread filled with oatmeal, toasted walnuts, and giant chunks of chocolate with a slight, caramelized bite around the edges.
I like my cookies big. So while these were baking, I greased the bottom of a ramekin and smashed them down halfway through. This was something I remembered seeing on the third season of Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship. For some reason, when Jason Smith smashed his molasses cookies and sent those domes into flat, wide circles, I decided it was something necessary for these cookies. The slightly crispy edge all around makes the extra step totally worth it as you bite into sweet banana goodness before reaching the soft centers.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Passive Time | 30-120 minutes |
| Servings |
cookies
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- 1/2 cup butter cold
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup mashed banana ripe
- 1 egg large
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups flour all-purpose
- 3/4 cup oats rolled
- 1 bar dark chocolate 60% and higher, chopped
- 1/2 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
Ingredients
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- If your walnuts aren't already toasted, set the oven to 350°F. Once preheated, place the whole walnuts on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes occasionally tossing the nuts around. Remove them from the oven and let them cool before chopping or crushing them with a rolling pin.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, mix together the sugars until light and fluffy. Add butter and cream until fluffy and combined.
- Add banana, egg, and vanilla extract, mixing to combine between each ingredient.
- Add dry ingredients to the mixer 1/2 at a time, mixing until just combined. There should still be a slight dusting of flour.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks (3/4 cup of dark or bittersweet chocolate chips works just fine) and chopped walnuts.
- Chill your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes-2 hours. It'll be slightly tacky but that's okay!
- Preheat oven to 300°F. With a large ice cream scoop, place dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave some space between them. Because I smash them down, I usually put four on each baking sheet. Slightly flatten the domed tops and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt--this helps cut the sweetness and adds another dimension to the cookies.
- Bake 15 minutes then, with a greased ramekin, flatten the cookies. They should spread out to be just a little larger than the ramekin.
- Bake another 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from heat and cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
I like to stick my baking sheets in the freezer for a few minutes before baking to give the dough some extra time to rest and to keep it from spreading out too quickly in the oven.
Chocolate may stick to the bottom of your ramekin while smashing the cookies down, just wipe it off with and re-grease for the next batch!
Omg! I’m so excited for you and this new journey! And now I have access to all your delicious recipes, lucky me!
They’re finally going to be more than just pictures now!