Hip hip hooray! February is the time to celebrate our friend of the month, Pochacco! Did you know this pup is as tall as four cups of his favorite banana ice cream? His birthday is on the 29th (leap year pup!) so let’s make banana ice cream inspired cookies for the birthday boy!
About the Guest Blogger
Anabelle Brown is a cookie crafter based out of Southern California. She is bananas for baking and shares her creations on her Instagram page (@bananabellebrown). Similar to Pochacco, she is curious by nature though she isn’t a natural at basketball or soccer like him. Good thing for baking!
About the Recipe
This recipe is an “a-peeling” twist on a classic sugar cookie! By replacing some all-purpose flour with grinded down ice cream cones as well as emulsified homemade banana chips, we yield a shortbread-like texture and a deepened depth of flavor. With this as our canvas, we then mix our royal icing with banana milk to transform this cookie into our dear friend, Pochacco!
Pochacco Banana Ice Cream Cone Cookies
{Makes 9 cookies}
Ingredients:
{Banana Chips}
-
4 just-ripe bananas, sliced in 1/10 inch thick rounds
-
2 teaspoons lemon juice
{Banana Ice Cream Cone Cookies}
-
1/2 cup (40g) banana chips
-
5 ice cream cup cones
-
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
-
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-
1/4 teaspoon salt
-
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
-
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
-
1 large egg, room temperature
-
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
{Banana Milk Royal Icing}
-
3 cups (360g) powdered sugar
-
2 tablespoons meringue powder
-
7-8 tablespoons banana milk
-
Gel color: red, blue (royal blue is preferred) and black
Tools:
-
Baking sheet
-
Parchment paper or silicone mat
-
Knife
-
Measuring cups and spoons
-
Pastry brush
-
Blender or food processor
-
Sifter
-
Mixing bowls
-
Stand mixer or hand mixer
-
Spatula
-
Whisk
-
Rolling pin
-
Plastic wrap
-
Scribe or toothpicks
-
Flat edge spatula or spoon
-
Piping bags
-
Pochacco template, cut out
Step-by-step instructions:
Banana Chips
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
2. Spread banana slices out onto the prepared baking sheets, making sure the slices are not touching. Brush slices with lemon juice.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes. Check slices, carefully turn each slice over and continue baking until the banana slices are dried out, 30 to 90 minutes more.
4. Let bananas cool until crispy, at least 5 minutes. If bananas are not crispy after 5 minutes of cooling time, put them back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes.
Banana Ice Cream Cone Cookies
1. In a blender or food processor, grind banana chips to a fine powder then sift the powder until you have 2 tablespoons worth. Repeat with the ice cream cup cones until you have 2 tablespoons of sifted powder.
2. Whisk banana chip powder, ice cream cone powder, flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. With a spatula, scrape down the bowl then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Be careful not to over mix!
5. Scrape down the bowl and form one mass with a spatula.
6. Place dough onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to 3/8 inch thickness. Dust the dough and rolling pin with flour as needed.
7. Place parchment paper or silicone mat with the rolled out dough onto a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days.
8. Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove baking sheet with cookie dough from the fridge. Carefully run your hand under the dough to make sure the dough is not sticking to the parchment paper or silicone mat.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Take your Pochacco template and make general cuts of the shape. Place general shapes on a prepared baking sheet in the fridge and work with 1 to 2 shapes at a time on the work surface so the remainder of the dough does not become too soft. Hand cut the shape, following the outline of the template. Lift up cut out shape and remove any excess dough and lightly press the edges to smooth the dough. Place hand cut cookies back onto the baking sheet in the fridge and repeat with remaining general shapes. Gather scraps and roll them out, refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm and repeat process until your dough is nearly used up and you have yielded as many Pochacco’s as possible!
10. Arrange cookies on a prepared baking sheet 3 inches apart. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
Banana Milk Royal Icing
1. In a large bowl using a whisk, mix the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and banana milk until ingredients are fully incorporated.
2. Take a flat edge spatula or spoon and run it through the icing. The line should disappear in 20 seconds. If it is too thick, add a little more banana milk. If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
3. Measure out royal icing for the different colors in two other bowls. You will need 40 grams for pale red, 70 grams for navy, and the remainder can remain white. When achieving light colors, a little bit of gel color goes a long way! To get the pale red shade, add a smidge of black to create a dusty shade and for navy, use blue and black.
Decorating Time!
1. Begin with outlining Pochacco’s head and neck with white icing. Fill in the outlined space and use a scribe or toothpick to smooth out imperfections. Repeat with his paws and legs. To avoid color bleeding, allow the white sections to dry before applying the pale red. Having a fan nearby for air circulation helps to speed up the process.
2. Outline his shirt with pale red, fill in the outlined section, and fix any imperfections. Allow the red icing to dry before the final outline.
3. Complete the line work with the navy icing. Yay, you did it! Our sweet Pochacco is ready to be enjoyed! To store them, allow the finished cookies to dry for at least 3 hours after completion. Store them in an airtight container with parchment paper in between the stacked decorated cookies. They will keep for 2 weeks at room temperatures in a cool, dry place.
Please note: Sanrio has invited, but does not necessarily endorse, the comments of this guest blogger. Any ideas or instructions for homemade products featuring Hello Kitty or other Sanrio characters are authorized for personal use only. A separate license from Sanrio is always required to sell or distribute any products featuring Hello Kitty or other Sanrio characters. The contents of this blog are the copyrighted works of Sanrio.