Anna The air around me is filled with the comforting scent of chocolate, caramelized bananas, and melty speculoos cookie butter. I LOVE baking. It is my favorite thing to do at the end of the day. However, the mess afterwards is not fun. I HATE dishes! Last week I was wandering around Trader Joe’s and I saw a challenge. The TJ’s Banana Contest! The catch was I had to make a banana dish using only 5 ingredients. That’s what I did! My test this week was to make fast recipes with simple ingredients and the least amount of clean up. Even though I am not really that “bananas” about bananas, I stocked up, had some baking fails…went back to the store for more bananas, and tried again! This easy Banana Speculoos Skillet Cookie Cake was a close second to the recipe I submitted to the competition.
We will see what happens with the actual contest, but after bringing this skillet cake to work, socials, and parties, I would say this is a winner! I think I nailed it on the head with this easy Banana Speculoos Skillet Cookie Cake. The flavor is unbelievable. Picture this! A giant chocolate chip cookie married to bananas foster. This treat is is hiding gooey chunks of chocolate, swirls of speculoos cookie butter, and rich blobs of warm caramelized bananas. It’s too cakey to be a pizookie and too crisp to be a cake. It smells unbelievably comforting and will make any doubter be a complete banana fan.
It Sounds Amazing, But Lots Of Dishes Suck!
The best part is the whole recipe uses a grand total of 3 dishes! YES!!! Win! Win! All you need is an oven proof skillet, a mixing bowl, and a whisk or spoon. If you don’t have a skillet that can go in the oven, a, 8×8 square pan also works. It just means you need to wash an extra dish.
So How Many Ingredients Do You Need?
The secret ingredient of this skillet cookie cake is yellow cake mix. I love making everything from scratch. However, pulling together this delicious treat in just a few minutes is AMAZING. Work smart not hard! Almost all of these items can easily be found in the pantry. Since this didn’t get submitted to the contest, I used 8 ingredients: yellow cake mix, an egg, bananas, melted butter, chocolate chips, brown sugar, vanilla, and cookie butter. If you really wanted to whittle the recipe down, you could do without the chocolate chips and vanilla….but come on! Chocolate chips and vanilla make everything 100% better!
Pro Tips
This skillet cake is on the sweeter side so I prefer using bittersweet or dark chocolate rather than semi sweet chocolate chips. Also, a glass of cold milk is a welcome partner to this delectable treat. Your guests will be impressed and SHOCKED with how easy it is to throw together.
What’s Cookie Butter?
Glad you asked! Cookie Butter is a delicious spread made out of speculoos cookies. Ever have a Biscoff cookie? It’s that cookie you get with a mini pack of peanuts and pretzels on flights. That’s what cookie butter tastes like. It has the same texture as peanut butter, (minus the peanut allergies) and it tastes like gingerbread. If you don’t have access to Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter, you can easily substitute the cookie butter for actual peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella, or Biscoff cookie butter.
Have I Convinced You To Bake This Yet?
I quickly found the Banana Speculoos Skillet Cookie Cake is a huge crowd pleaser for all ages. What makes me happier is how fast it is! Mixing it up from start to finish took about 35 minutes. This is now my go-to recipe whenever I have last minute company or when I need to bring a special treat to a party of staff meeting. Next time you have bananas, skip the banana bread! Make the Banana Speculoos Skillet Cookie Cake instead!
Easy Banana Speculoos Skillet Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Caramel Fried Bananas
- 2 bananas sliced into 1/4 inch coins
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- dash of salt
Cookie Dough
- 1 box yellow cake mix I used Trader Joes brand
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup cookie butter
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Caramel Fried Bananas
- In a medium oven proof skillet, melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat (about 3 minutes).
- When the butter is bubbly and just beginning to brown, add the bananas. Fry the bananas 1 minute on each side. Once the brown sugar is completely melted, set aside and cool completely.
Cookie Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the yellow cake mix, egg, and melted butter just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon half of the cookie batter into the skillet. Spoon the fried bananas over the cookie batter. Spread it out evenly.
- Spoon in the remaining cookie batter dough and cookie butter. Swirl to mix. Top with a few extra chocolate chips.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are set and the middle is set but still soft. Cool about 10 minutes. Enjoy warm! It tastes amazing with a cold glass of milk.
Notes
- The Caramel Fried Bananas can be easily made ahead of time. Let it cool down and pop it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
- The fried bananas also taste great on ice cream! If you decided to skip making the skillet cake,(or if you forgot to grab a key ingredient) skip the cake and have Banana Foster instead!
