Bananas

Yesterday and today have turned into snow days. Yes, we have snow in the south, and although it makes for chaos on the roads, it is quite nice if you are home sipping hot tea.

I always bake something on cold days like these, and so I wanted to pass along one of my favorite recipes.

Banana Cookies with Lemon Icing

If you are like me the  you usually have bananas around the house and when they get too ripe you make banana bread. That is all fine and good but sometimes you need to break out of the banana bread routine and make something memorable.

When I was growing up my mom would occasionally whip these little creations up and I admit they were on the top of my *favorites* list.

They are not fancy or difficult to make, but the results are quite delicious. The lemon icing adds a nice little zing to the banana breading.
I will warn that the dough must chill in the fridge for at least an hour, so plan accordingly.

Now go bake something and enjoy your snow day!

Banana Cookies with Lemon Icing

1/2 C shortening or lard****
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C mashed banana
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C chopped nuts

Mix first 4 ingredients well in alarge bowl. In a medium bowl, sift remaining ingredients together and then add the to the wet mixture. Mix well. Chill in fridge for at least one hour.

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool and frost.

**** You can use butter instead of lard or shortening but the result will be different. Cookies with butter tend to flatten out more.****

Lemon-Butter Icing

1/3 C butter, softened
3 C powder sugar
2 Tb lemon juice

Mix all ingredients well. Add more or less sugar until desired consistency.