Banana & Hazelnut Cookie Crisps w/ Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling

One of the most annoying things I have to deal with daily is my weird inability to get over things quickly or easily.

I don’t even know why it happens!

“Okay Izy, you used the wrong leg in Yoga, it’s fine, no one was staring at you.”
“Yes, you totally did just trip on that last stair at the tube station, but everybody trips up on stairs!!”
“Mmmhhhmm, your oyster card is still not working properly and now there’s a queue of people behind you trying to get on the bus. Just literally KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON IZY.”

The only way I can relax is when I forget the incident ever happened, which I eventually do.

But alas, my brain is like a friend who brings up stupid things you did in the past, just to aggravate you.

This usually happens when I’m trying to get to sleep;

“My mind is blank, think about nothing. Nothing. Quiet. Sleep, sleepy..slee…OH HEY!! YOU TRYING TO GET TO SLEEP? I CAN TELL YOU A GOOD-NIGHT STORY: REMEMBER WHEN YOU USED THE WRONG LEG IN YOGA! AHAHAH, THAT WAS SOO EMBARRASSING!! NIIIIGHT 😀 ”

Banana, Butterscotch & Hazelnut Cookie Crisps with Bittersweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling

Makes around 12 sandwich cookies (24 crisps)

1/4 cup (2 oz / 55g) light brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 egg white
1 ripe banana, mashed (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup (4 tbsp / 32g) all purpose flour
pinch of baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tbsp + 2 tsp milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice
(optional: 1/4 cup toasted skinned hazelnuts*, chopped)

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F (130 degrees C) and line a cookie tray with a non-stick baking mat or with well buttered parchment paper**.

Chuck all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. Take a teaspoon of batter and blob onto the tray.

Using the back of the spoon, moving it in a circular motion, spread the batter into a circle, around 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Repeat with more batter, spacing the circles 1/2″ apart (the batter doesn’t really spread). If using nuts, sprinkle them on top of the batter now. Bake for 17-20 minutes until completely browned. Let cool on the tray a little, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

When ready to eat, fill with chocolate-hazelnut filling (recipe follows) , nutella or melted bittersweet chocolate.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling

* You can also use toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts instead of hazelnuts. To toast hazelnuts, put on a cookie tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees F. Transfer hot hazelnuts to a clean, dry kitchen towel and rub together to remove the skins. 

**To butter parchment paper, melt 3 tbsp of butter, then use a pastry brush to cover the whole piece of parchment. If it isn’t well greased, the cookies will probably stick.

***Alternatively, you can: 

• use an immersion blender in a large bowl, or 
• make sure the banana is well mashed and mix all the ingredients well with a whisk until smooth.