Banana Nut Biscotti

I keep doing this. I keep buying bananas, and I keep letting them get mushy. Then I keep finding myself scrambling to find a recipe to use them up. So far, I've done banana bread, banana and chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter banana cookies, along with an assortment of smoothies and peanut butter banana sandwiches. Another idea I had was to replace some of the oil in brownies (out of the box) with bananas. You could definitely taste a hint of banana in them, but banana and chocolate go together nicely, so it's a pretty good option if you ever find yourself in the same situation (or just want to make yourself feel less guilty about eating brownies).

So here I am, searching for a new banana idea and I found banana nut biscotti. And I've gotta say, I really like this one and might make it again in the future since I'm pretty sure I still haven't learned my lesson about not letting bananas get mushy on my watch.

I like these because they make a great snack, aren't too sweet (I'm mostly a salty kinda gal), and are relatively healthy. I even replaced some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and didn't even notice. Maybe next time I'll sub a bit more to see how much I can get away with before noticing.

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a mushy banana predicament, I highly recommend giving this one a try.

I found this recipe on Culinary Adventures of a New Wife who got the recipe from Cooking Light. That makes this recipe a perfect candidate for the weekly Bookmarked Recipes event which was created by Ruth's Kitchen Experiment. Check out the roundup every Monday!







from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 1 banana)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- Cooking spray

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine banana, oil, vanilla, and egg in a medium bowl; stir in flour mixture and pecans (dough will be sticky).
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; shape dough into 2 (8-inch-long) rolls with floured hands.
- Place rolls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten to 1/2-inch thickness.Bake at 350° for 23 minutes.
- Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.
- Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (1/2-inch) slices.
- Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 250°; bake 15 minutes.
- Turn cookies over; bake an additional 15 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool).
- Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire racks.