Banana Coconut Cookies with Macadamia Nuts

Treat yourself to one of these macadamia nuts and coconut loaded Island Banana Cookies! They are exploding with banana flavor, soft, yet crunchy, and the subtle hint of brown butter takes them out of this world. This post is sponsored by MacFarms® but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

These soft Banana Cookies are the perfect marriage of my ideal brown butter banana bread and my Island-inspired cookies. They are full of banana flavor and warm cinnamon, filled with coconut flakes and crunchy macadamia nuts for an amazing textural contrast.

These cookies will remind you of a muffin top, they are dense but super soft just like a banana muffin without the bottom half. The larger size cookies are perfect for a small breakfast treat with your morning coffee. Yum!

Helpful tools

Much like one of my banana bread recipes, you can make these banana cookies by hand, so no need for any mixer. But since the cookie dough is pretty soft, I highly recommend using a cookie scoop to divide it to make it easy and clean.

Ingredients and substitutions

As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:

1. Banana – overripe bananas are best for this recipe. The recipe calls for 1 cup of banana. This is equivalent to about 2 medium bananas. If your bananas are on the smaller side, it may take 2 ½ bananas. And if they are on the larger side, it may be less than 2 bananas. I recommend measuring or weighing the bananas to be exact.

2. Coconut – I use two kinds of coconut here: unsweetened coconut in the batter and sweetened coconut for the topping. In a pinch, you could just use either type for both the batter and the topping. But if you use unsweetened shredded coconut for the topping, it will be easier to roll the cookie dough into a ball and then roll it in the coconut. If you use sweetened coconut only, it will make your cookies a bit sweeter, you may want to reduce the amount of sugar a bit, but it may not be a big deal since these cookies aren’t too sweet to begin with.

3. Macadamia nuts – you can use raw or roasted unsalted macadamia nuts. I always toast the nuts before using them to bring out their flavor when when they’re already roasted. Make sure not to use salted macadamias to prevent your cookies from being too salty.

4. Brown butter – start with a 1 stick of unsalted butter and brown it first before using. I don’t recommend skipping this and only using regular butter. Brown butter adds so much depth to these cookies, the version without brown butter does not taste as good.

5. Brown sugar – light or dark brown sugar will work in this recipe. And if you don’t have either kind, granulated sugar will be just fine.

6. Cinnamon – it might sound strange to add cinnamon to a “tropical” cookie recipe but banana and cinnamon go so well together and it adds warmth to the cookies. 

7. Flour – all purpose flour is just fine for this recipe.

8. Butter – I used unsalted butter but you can use salted butter, just reduce the amount of salt called for separately by half.

9. Salt – I used kosher salt. If you use a different type of salt, pay attention to the size of the granules and adjust the amount accordingly, use less for smaller granules and more for larger granules.

10. Sugar – light or dark brown sugar will both work. If you don’t have brown sugar, granulated sugar will work in a pinch; however, brown sugar will yield nicer flavor depth.

11. Egg – I used just 1 large egg here to bind the ingredients.

12. Vanilla – don’t skip this, vanilla adds warmth and complexity.

How to make banana coconut cookies with macadamias

The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

For this banana cookie recipe, you will need to brown the butter first and allow it to cool to room temperature. So set aside some extra time before you’re planning to bake, you will be well rewarded with the amazing flavor!

1. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl and add the egg, room temperature brown butter, sugar, and vanilla. 
2. Whisk until well combined and smooth.

3. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
4. Fold with a spatula until a wet cookie dough comes together. 

5. Fold in the unsweetened coconut and chopped macadamia nuts. 
6. Use a medium cookie scoop to divide the cookie dough, 2 flat scoops for each large cookie, top with a generous amount of sweetened coconut. Bake for about 13 minutes at 350°F. 

More baker’s tips

• How to measure the banana – I like to weigh bananas for recipes so I only have to mash the exact amount. This way I can freeze whatever leftover in its whole form for another day to make dog treats or toss it in a smoothie. But if you don’t have a scale, I recommend mashing the bananas in a bowl and then measuring out 1 cup for these banana cookies.
• Variations – You can try other fillings for these cookies. I like the combination of chocolate chips and walnuts or pecans. Or try white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts for a banana version of these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.
• Chill the dough – This cookie dough should be refrigerated for at least a short time before baking. I found that baking the cookies without refrigerating first yields slightly drier cookies.
• Handling the wet dough – I like to portion cookie dough all at once, then refrigerate. But this cookie dough is pretty wet, you can refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before scooping to make it easier, if preferred. 
• Divide first then refrigerate – If you refrigerate the dough for too long, it might become too hard to scoop. In this case, just allow it to sit at room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes, it will soften up.

Storage

Baked cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. Because these banana cookies are softer, if you store them together in a container without wrapping them, they’ll stick together, so it’s best to wrap them individually.

Unbaked cookie dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Frozen cookie dough can be baked straight from the freezer but you’ll need to bake about 2 minutes longer.

More banana recipes 

• Banana Bundt Cake
• Banana Coffee Cake
• Banana Bread French Toast
• Hummingbird Cake
• Banana Cream Pie

5 from 2 votes

Banana Cookies Recipe with Coconut and Macadamias

By Trang

Treat yourself to one of these macadamia nuts and coconut loaded Island Banana Cookies! They are exploding with banana flavor, soft, yet crunchy, and the subtle hint of brown butter takes them out of this world.

Servings: 20 large cookies

Prep Time: 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 14 minutes mins

Total Time: 39 minutes mins

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 4 oz unsalted butter, 113 g, brown yields ~90 g
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed, 200 g
• ▢ 1 large egg, room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup mashed bananas, about 2 medium bananas, 240 g
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour, 276 g
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1 ½ cup macadamia nuts, toasted, roughly chopped, 198 g
• ▢ 1 cup unsweetened coconut flake, 93 g
• ▢ 1 cup sweetened coconut flake, for garnish, 90 g

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Instructions 

• To make brown butter, heat unsalted butter in a light color saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, it will start getting foamy. Once the foam subsides, you’ll see clear bubbles. Continue cooking and stirring constantly to keep the butter from burning. Once the butter smells nutty and turns a caramel color, turn off the heat. This process will take about 7 – 9 minutes. Allow brown butter to cool to room temperature before making the cookie dough.
• To make cookie dough, add brown sugar, mashed bananas, egg, vanilla extract and brown butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with a whisk until thoroughly combined and smooth.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon together in another bowl. Stir in the salt, mix with a whisk to evenly distribute.
• Add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients mixture, and mix with a spatula until the cookie dough comes together.
• Stir in the toasted macadamia nuts and unsweetened shredded coconut.
• Use a medium cookie scoop to portion the dough onto a lined baking sheet. For small cookies, use 1 scoop of dough, this will yield about 40 to 42 cookies. For oversized cookies, add two scoops of dough on top of each other to form one large cookie, this will yield about 20 – 21 cookies. Refrigerate while the oven preheats.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Transfer refrigerated cookie dough to another lined baking sheet, about 1”-2” apart. Add sweetened coconut on top to cover the whole cookie generously.
• Bake small cookies for 11 – 12 minutes and large cookies for 13 – 14 minutes.

Notes

• This cookie dough should be refrigerated for at least a short time before baking. I found that baking the cookies without refrigerating first yields slightly drier cookies.
• I like to portion cookie dough all at once, then refrigerate. But this cookie dough is pretty wet, you can refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before scooping to make it easier, if preferred.
• If you refrigerate the dough for too long, it might become too hard to scoop. In this case, just allow it to sit at room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes, it will soften up.

Nutrition

Serving: 63g, Calories: 262kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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