I have a narrow window when it comes to bananas that are ripe enough but not too ripe. And I eat a banana almost every day. This means two things.

(1) I make frequent trips to the grocery store and bananas are always on my list. Always. Literally. I use a grocery list app on my phone and never clear bananas from the list.

And…

(2) There are frequently overripe bananas that must be dealt with, partly on purpose and partly by chance. I use them in smoothies and lately for this Pinterest recipe for easy banana “ice cream.”

This weekend I decided to try making Banana Buttermilk Biscuits.

Where did this biscuit recipe come from?

It was inspired by this one from Dine and Dish, but I made a few modifications based on the ingredients I had on hand and my hope to punch up the flavors a bit. I particularly thought more vanilla flavor and banana would be nice.

Mashed banana with vanilla

Why choose this biscuit recipe?

I did not see a lot of options when it came to banana biscuits, so decided to go with this one and just vary a couple of things slightly.

What is persnickety about this biscuit recipe?

This dough was really sticky! I did not end up putting in more banana, which was just as well. I don’t think I would have had any luck cutting out the biscuits if I had. I did add more vanilla.

I also decided that I needed to add a variation. Since I am partial to the combination of Nutella and bananas, I went with that.

I thought I should freeze the Nutella to make chunks of it, but I had read that Nutella does not freeze well. Perhaps because I was -ahem- using on off-brand, I had no trouble getting thin, frozen, little sheets of it. I layered these with the dough right before cutting it out.

Banana Biscuit Dough with Nutella

Nutella Folded in and Ready for the Oven

So how were the biscuits?

I have to say that these surprised me a bit. I had guessed that the Nutella variation would be my favorite, but found myself partial to the plain banana biscuit. Well, plain with honey butter! Because everything is better with honey butter! I made the biscuits huge so they were moist and fluffy inside with just enough banana flavor to enhance the buttermilk biscuit flavor.

Bottom line is that they were wonderful and you should go make them. Now. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

How were the leftovers prepared?

Ahhh, these leftovers got special treatment. So special that I will be dedicating a whole post to what became The Best Biscuit Sandwich Ever. Stay tuned!

>>> Click here for printable biscuit recipe.

Banana Biscuits (with Nutella variation)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups White Lilly Self-Rising flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter-flavored Crisco, frozen and cut into small pieces
• 1 very ripe banana mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix the first three dry ingredients.
• Add Crisco to dry ingredients and rub with your fingers to make the Crisco break up into small, pea sized pieces.
• Combine mashed banana, vanilla, and buttermilk
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture. Mix quickly with large spoon or hands, turning bowl and gently scooping the dry ingredients into the wet. Add more buttermilk, if needed, to make dough moist but not too wet. It will be somewhat sticky.
• Sprinkle flour onto countertop or pastry board. Dump dough out of bowl onto flour. Sprinkle flour onto dough and rub onto hands. Knead a few times. Press dough together and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Fold dough in half. A pastry scraper can be really helpful here to lift up the dough.
• Transfer dough to parchment paper. Press out to about 1/2 inch. Make into a rough rectangular shape. Using a pastry scraper, knife, spatula or other edge, cut dough into squares about 1 1/2 inches across. You do not need to move the dough after cutting.
• Put cookie sheet in oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until tops of biscuits are slightly browned. If you wish, take the biscuits out of the oven a couple of minutes before they are done and brush the tops of the biscuits with butter, then return them to the oven.
• Remove from oven, let rest a few minutes, then break apart and eat!
• Share with someone you love.

Nutella Variation

• Use 1/4 cup or more of Nutella, depending on whether you are using a full or partial batch of the biscuits.
• Spread thin sheet of Nutella onto wax paper and put into freezer for at least one hour before you begin making the biscuits.
• Flatten dough to ¼ to ½ inch. Break up Nutella and spread the bits on the outer two thirds of the dough. [see photo above]
• Fold dough towards the middle, like a letter folder into thirds. Transfer to cookie sheet, flatten dough slightly, and cut into squares.
• Bake as directed.