Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sharing inspiration through food

There is no doubt that cooking is Maya Moscovich’s passion. She is skilled at expressing herself through creativity and cooking is just one of those ways.

Maya started cooking at 11 years old. “I had a cookbook for kid’s,” she recalls fondly. Maya’s entry in the My Cookies are the Best contest won her a trip to the inaugural Food Bloggers of Canada Conference this April along with gluten free baker Jeanine from Manitoba.

The winning recipe was for her Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. Maya admits the inspiration for her recipes “always begins with my kids.” Her kids, 10 and 6, love cookies; their favourite kind is chocolate chip. Maya was in her kitchen searching for the chocolate chips when she stumbled upon a dying banana in her kitchen. In a moment, she realized chocolate and banana make a good combination. She mashed the banana into her chocolate chip cookie mix. “The results were tasty,” according to her kids, and she has been making them ever since.

Maya’s kitchen

Maya and her family moved to Canada from Israel almost four years ago. She started her blog, Maya’s Kitchen a couple of years after because of the abundance of recipes in her possession. She had a big plastic bag of recipes she had collected over the years from her grandmother and her neighbours, most of them from Israel.

She wanted to make sure the recipes were documented to preserve for years to come. “To save time and space, I started typing them and put them into a blog,” Maya described of how her blog came to be.

After her move to Canada, she noticed the difference in the food culture in Canada. She knew what she was lacking, “I found I was missing the vegetables and use of spices. I thought to myself, maybe I’m not the only one so I started using those recipes to showcase different ways to make fish, chicken, and potatoes.”

Fresh Herbs - Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, Basil, Rosemary

Maya on creativity

Maya has learned a lot and enjoys every aspect of having her own blog –the design, the photography and making it look good.

Her blog is but one of the ways the visual artist in her shines through. Maya’s other passion is painting. Whether it’s painting her kid’s bedroom walls, or acrylic on canvas, she finds joy in art –and that includes photography. Fortunate for her, her husband is a photographer so she often goes to him for advice on photographing food for her blog.

Even her method for developing recipes, writing them down and posting them onto her blog is a creative process.

Maya finds her challenge in using leftovers. “Usually I open fridge to see what I have and go from there. It’s much more fun and challenging to play with what I have available,” she admits.

Once she has her ideas, she doesn’t have time to write down all the ingredients, so she keeps a white magnetic board in her kitchen. She jots her ingredients on the board and then takes a photo with her iPhone to be documented into a blog post later when she has the time.

A well-deserved trip

Between her kids and her full time job at the Atlantic Jewish Council, weeknights after the kids have gone to bed and weekends is when she find time to devote to her blog.

Maya is excited to attend the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference at the Hockley Valley Resort in Orangeville, Ontario. “I’m looking forward to all the sessions on food photography, the business of operating a blog and how to get more exposure.” She’s also hoping to have some fun; it’ll be one of the few times she’ll be away from her husband and kids all weekend.

View Maya’s winning recipe post for Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies on her blog.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies Maya
Banana and Chocolate Chips, what an amazing combo. These cookies are soft, sweet and banana flavored. A guaranteed success.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 mashed banana
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
  2. Layer a large baking pan with parchment paper.
  3. In a mixer bowl, mix all the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips, until you get a smooth batter.
  4. Add the chocolate chips into the batter and fold into the batter.
  5. Using a teaspoon, Drop by teaspoonful onto the baking sheet. Make sure the cookies are at least 2 inches apart from each other as they grow in size while baking.
  6. Place in preheated oven for about 10 minutes until golden and a bit brown on the edges.
  7. Let cool completely before removing from the baking sheet (cookies are soft as you take them out of the oven).

Maya www.mayaskitchen.infoRecipe and photography re-printed with permission from Maya www.mayaskitchen.info

We look forward to travelling with Maya to the first ever Food Bloggers of Canada Conference in April.  Thanks Maya for your entry and we wish you a weekend filled with learning and fun.

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