Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies? They are practically a childhood staple in my mind. When our first born was about 6 months old (so not eating solid foods yet), she ended up with a horrible case of hives. That landed us in the ER. To make a long story pretty short, we ended up learning that she had an egg allergy (although that is not what caused the hives).

Egg allergy?!?!  That meant no cakes. No french toast. No scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. No poached eggs on toast. No tuna salad sandwiches. No Easter egg battles. No deviled eggs.

and NO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?!?!?!

What on Earth? I am a baker. I love to bake. I love baking for my family. So I had to figure something out.

Now, she is 6 and for a while I have been experimenting with different recipes and replacing the egg and dairy (yes, we are also now dairy free) and have had some great turnouts. One of our favorites are these Banana Chocolate Chip cookies.

Even if you are not egg and dairy free - these are fantastic!!

Banana Chocolate Chip cookies

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine (we uses soy and dairy free Earth's Balance)
2/3 tsp vanilla
1/2 smashed ripe banana (about a 3 inch piece)
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (we use Ghiradelli's Semi Sweet or I bust up some semi sweet bakers chocolate squares into chunks)

Mix sugars and margarine until creamy. Add vanilla and banana to the sugar mix. Mix. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix again.

Sometimes I think the dough is a bit too thick so I add in about a tablespoon of applesauce.

Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon tablespoon size balls onto baking sheet. bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.