Banana Biscotti
This Banana Biscotti recipe with walnuts is reminiscent of banana bread with its sweet aroma and uses up any overripe bananas that may be sitting out on the counter.
I’m not sure why, but I haven’t felt very festive this year. I did nothing for Halloween (didn’t even get trick or treaters!) and barely decorated my apartment.
When I was thinking of cookie recipes to share, I wasn’t feeling pumpkin, gingerbread, maple, or any other flavors you may associate with fall and Christmas.
Instead, I made Banana Walnut Biscotti because I was in the mood for banana bread.
Funny story – I didn’t realize until I was getting ready to make this recipe that I actually posted pumpkin biscotti. Total coincidence.
I guess when I think of the holidays, I think of friends and family chatting in the evening with a cup of coffee, and coffee usually equals biscotti. Which is ironic because I don’t drink coffee past dinner time.
Regardless of how festive you’re feeling inside, this Banana Walnut Biscotti can be enjoyed all year round (and is also a great alternative to small batch banana muffins when using up those overripe bananas).
I’m one of those people who never have overripe bananas in the house; I have to purposely buy my bananas and wait for them to ripen before baking.
Although I did buy these from a discounted produce vendor, which means I only had to wait a day or two before using.
If you do find yourself needing to bake this biscotti today but your bananas are not ready, you can roast the bananas to speed up the process.
What I love about biscotti (besides eating them) is that they are pretty sturdy as far as cookies go, which makes them great for mailing.
You can also wrap them up inside a coffee mug with some hot cocoa or coffee packs for an easy homemade gift.
I know I’d much rather get that than another bottle of lotion or candle (you know, the gifts you give when you don’t know what to get. Both things I actually never use).
But Banana Walnut Biscotti isn’t just a holiday gift-giving cookie – make them all year round!
As long as there are overripe bananas in kitchens across the world, banana biscotti will never go out of season.
Banana Walnut Biscotti
This Banana Walnut Biscotti recipe is reminiscent of banana bread with its sweet aroma and uses up any overripe bananas that may be sitting out on the counter.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup mashed banana (1 medium overripe banana, around 5 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line one cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In another large bowl, beat together the eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in the flour until incorporated then stir in the walnuts.
- On a floured surface with floured hands, lightly knead the dough. Place the dough on the parchment paper and pat out into a log that is roughly 15 to 20 inches by 5 to 6 inches, no more than 1/2 inch high. If dough is too sticky, add a little bit more flour. Bake 22-25 minutes or until brown, set on the edges, and center is firm. Remove the cookies from the oven. Turn the oven down to 300F.
- Cool the cookies for 15 minutes then with a serrated knife, cut into 3/4 inch wide pieces. Place cut side down back onto the cookie sheet and bake an additional 15-20 minutes until firm. Cool completely.
Source: Adapted from my pumpkin biscotti recipe
Looking for more baking recipes?
White Chocolate Gingerbread Biscotti
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Perfect coffee dippers! Plus biscotti make such a terrific hostess gift during the holidays! Yours look delish!
This is a perfect excuse for pumpkin break, and they totally make a nice holiday gift.
I’m with ya on not feeling uber festive. This biscotti looks amazing regardless-love that they are made with bananas!
Thank you for reminding me that it’s been about a million years since I last made biscotti! Okay, more like two years, but that’s still far too long, right? And my husband and I are notoriously bad about letting good bananas get overripe, so these are perfect for me. Thanks for sharing!
Well, I did it without reading reviews, made 1/2 of it – to try and is just perfect! I had more banana, basically whole big banana for 1/2 recepie and it just 10/10
Very surprised people are talking about oil/butter etc
Glad you were successful!
This recipe makes me realize I don’t make biscotti nearly enough! It’s a great way to use brown bananas too!
We have a funny sort of cycle with bananas at our house, or at least we did when the girls still lived at home. I’d buy a bunch and they’d eat every single one in a day or two. So I’d buy another bunch and they’d eat one or two and the rest would have to become banana cake or bread or cookies. So then I wouldn’t buy bananas again for quite a while, but when I did, then the cycle would start over. I would have liked to have a banana biscotti in my repertoire for those times.
I made the recipe. Dough was way too dry (though I was not precise in flour measurements). I added some applesauce to moisten it up and it worked well. Very tasty.
Sorry to hear your dough turned out dry, but I highly recommend being precise in your measurements, especially when baking with flour. Glad you were able to save it with applesauce.
I noticed there is no fat in the recipe , eg butter. Is that a mistake?
Traditional biscotti doesn’t use butter because back in the day, biscotti was invented so explorers could travel without worrying about the cookies going moldy. Butter is added to most recipes nowadays to give them a slightly softer texture.
The flour amount made a dry pebblu dough, that did not create a ball easily. I weigh my flour, as suggested by King Arthur flour measurements. Maybe 2 1/2 versus 3 cups would be better. I decided to add an extra egg, extract, and additional half banana. (Surprised there wasn’t any oil listed in ingredients, such as butter or vegetable oil, for extra moisture, as in other biscotti recipes.) Wish I would have read these reviews and added applesauce. Baking in oven now; hoping for a good texture.
Thank you for the feedback. The recipe turned out fine for me, but I will revisit the recipe and see if I need to make any adjustments.
This was my first time making biscotti, and was looking to use up some brownish bananas. I found your recipe and it came out just wonderful! I’ll be making more for holiday gifts and trying your recipe with raisins, chocolate chips and other variations.
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Glad I read the reviews first as most people who rated didn’t even make the recipe. There is no fat as there is in all other biscotti recipes so I think it would have been a fail if I didn’t have applesauce on hand.
How can you call my recipe a fail when you didn’t follow it? Not to mention it’s rated 4.5 starts with 70 reviews. If it was truly a fail, it wouldn’t rate so high. To address your fat comment: traditional biscotti doesn’t use butter because back in the day, biscotti was invented so explorers could travel without worrying about the cookies going moldy. Butter is added to most recipes nowadays to give them a slightly softer texture. Also, applesauce isn’t a fat so I’m not sure why you added that when you’re talking about having no fat (which btw there is some fat from the egg yolk).
I am a retired pastry chef/baker. Your recipe is great, the measurments are exact, I did not have any problems with the ingredients. I did however use the entire banana so as not to waste any, and given the amount of flour it called , did not impose any issues with the dough. But rather than slicing them 3/4 inch, I did 1/2 inch allowing a yield fo 2 Doz. The taste and quality met my expectations to the up most, and I will include theseto my collection as I have done with others. Thank you for sharing.
Glad it worked out for you.