Banana chocolate cookies

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the mashed banana and vanilla extract. Sift in the cocoa powder (if you don't sift it, your batter may have lumps of cocoa). Add the baking soda and salt and beat until cocoa powder is well incorporated.

Add the flour and use a large spoon or spatula to gently mix the dough together. Stir in the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Scoop dough balls 3 Tbsp in size using a cookie scoop. Add six dough balls to your parchment-lined baking sheet and top each dough ball with extra chocolate chips by gently pressing the chips into the tops/sides of the dough balls.

Bake at 350°F for 12-13 minutes. Immediately after baking, if desired, you can use the back of a spoon to gently re-shape any cookies that look lop-sided. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before gently removing to a cooling rack.

Repeat steps 5 & 6 to finish baking the dough, making sure your baking sheet has totally cooled before scooping the dough balls (I wave mine in the air to quickly cool it down). Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.