Banana, Butterscotch & Hazelnut Cookie Crisps with Bittersweet 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 :D "

Oh jeez. Then, instead of being satisfied by sending me into my worrying-spiral with one story, my brain actually works OVERTIME to remember anything else 'embarrassing' that happened recently. It's like I'm trying to run away while my brain throws bad memories at me. 

and that is my life.

So yeah, that wasn't related to these Banana, Butterscotch & Hazelnut Cookie Crisps with Bittersweet Chocolate-Hazelnut Filling, at all. I just thought you'd like an entertaining story so you don't ever have to feel bad about your brain (unless other people's brains do this to them too! In which case, HIGH FIVE).

Anywho, these are thin, crispy, melt in your mouth banana cookies (kinda tuile-like), topped with chopped hazelnuts. The batter has brown sugar in it, making the cookies have that butterscotchy flavour, and a little bit of chew in the middle.

As the cookies are quite sweet, I recommend keeping the filling quite bitter to off-set it (You can use nutella or melted bittersweet chocolate as the filling instead if you like). The unfilled cookies will stay crisp in an airtight container; however, they start becoming softer and chewy once filled, so I recommend filling them just before eating! (they should stay crisp if you fill them with melted bittersweet chocolate though)

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

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp hazelnut butter

1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder 

2-4 tbsp powdered sugar (to taste)

1-3 tsp milk

Cream butter, hazelnut butter, cocoa, 2 tbsp powdered sugar and 1 tsp milk in a small bowl. Add more powdered sugar / milk to make thicker / thinner consistency (respectively) until you get a spreadable consistency. Spread 1/2 tsp of the filling onto the underside of one cookie, and sandwich together with a second cookie.

* 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.