Banana Drop Cookies

Recipe No. 82 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Flour, sifted — 3¼ pounds (3¼ No. 56 dippers)
• Baking powder — 1¼ ounces (3½ mess kit spoons)
• Baking soda — ⅙ ounce (⅓ mess kit spoon)
• Salt — ¾ ounce (1½ mess kit spoons)
• Shortening — 2½ pounds (1¼ No. 56 dippers)
• Sugar, granulated — 3¼ pounds (2¼ mess kit cups)
• Eggs — 15 eggs (¾ No. 56 dipper)

Vanilla — 1½ ounces (3 mess kit spoons)

• Bananas, ripe, peeled, mashed — 3¾ pounds (2½ mess kit cups)
• Sugar, granulated (for topping) — as needed
• Cinnamon (for topping) — as needed

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Cinnamon

1. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, and salt together.
2. Mix shortening and sugar; stir until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs gradually, mixing well after each addition; add vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture and bananas alternately, mixing well after each addition.
5. Mix sugar and cinnamon.
6. Drop cookie mixture by spoonfuls on ungreased baking pans. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture. Bake in hot oven (400° F.) 10 to 12 minutes.
7. Remove from pans at once.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Flour, sifted — 4¼ oz Baking powder — about ⅔ tsp Baking soda — a pinch Salt — about ⅓ tsp Shortening — 3¼ oz Sugar, granulated — 4¼ oz Eggs — 1¼ eggs Vanilla — about ¾ tsp Bananas, ripe, peeled, mashed — 4¾ oz Sugar, granulated (for topping) — to taste Cinnamon (for topping) — to taste

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 82, Cakes and Cookies. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.