Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Skillets (Vegan GF)

This recipe is for small-batch ooey gooey Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Skillets served with sticky caramelised bananas. Made with vegan, gluten-free and wholefood ingredients, it’s ready in 13 minutes in the air fryer.

I have been dreaming up this air-fryer cookie recipe for a long time now and finally it’s here in the form of a cookie skillet. It’s fairly underbaked so tastes and feels like warm gooey cookie dough but has that golden chewy top that we all love. Packed with chocolate chips it also has an oozing homemade salted caramel middle. Serve this dessert for two (or four, if you’re feeling generous) with dairy-free ice cream and more syrup or caramel.

Why will I love this cookie skillet?

This cookie is totally delicious, it is:

• Warm, gooey and sticky
• Filled with oozing homemade caramel
• Packed with chocolate chips and banana
• Topped with golden caramelised banana pieces
• Naturally vegan and gluten-free
• Easily nut-free
• Made from wholesome ingredients
• Lower sugar, butter-free and nourishing
• Easy and quick to make in the air fryer
• Great to make for 2 (or 4) people
• Also delicious cold!

If you already love the sound of these cookie skillets then skip ahead to the recipe card below. Or, let’s discuss the recipe in more detail.

What ingredients do I need?

Please see the “shop the recipe” below for all my favourites!

This cookie starts with a basic healthier cookie dough:

• Runny smooth almond butter: this is the base for the cookie dough and means we don’t need any vegan butter. I love almond butter but peanut, cashew or pecan will all be great. For nut-free options use tahini or sunflower seed butter.
• Maple syrup: for sticky sweetness, this works alongside the coconut sugar to create a delicious cookie dough. Other syrups like agave, oat or vegan honey will also work.
• Coconut oil: this fat helps the cookie skillets to be super gooey when warm but they’ll firm up slightly as they cool. You can swap this for vegan butter, if you prefer.
• Coconut or light brown sugar: for sweetness I prefer coconut sugar as the flavour is caramel-like and the colour is richer but light brown, golden or regular caster sugar will also work.
• Banana: mash half the banana into the cookie dough to add moisture, sweetness and to act as a natural egg-replacer. The other half of the banana is for adding chewy chunks into the batter.
• Vanilla: for flavour.
• Ground almonds: I love how much gooeyness ground almonds add to the cookie dough. They are important for adding fat and moisture to the recipe, so for a nut-free option, I’d recommend using ground up sunflower seeds. Plain flour may work at a pinch but the cookies won’t be as gooey.
• Oat flour: this adds wholesome goodness and keeps the cookie dough rich and delicious. Grind your own oats (gluten-free, where needed) in a blender to a fine meal-texture.
• Vegan vanilla protein powder: this adds a dose of protein as well as a fabulous texture. I love the Macromike proteins, which are now available to ship from the UK making them much more affordable. My discount code AMB-AMY works off everything. If you prefer to not use protein powder, use more oat flour or coconut flour.
• Bicarbonate of soda and salt: for a rise and flavour.
• Chocolate chips: any chocolate chips, buttons or chopped up bar of chocolate will be great inside these cookies.

As for the other components to this recipe, we use the same ingredients:

• Homemade salted caramel: this is adapted from my favourite easy, healthier caramel recipe which uses nut/seed butter, maple syrup and coconut oil. Add a pinch of salt to make it salted caramel.
• Caramelised bananas: these are so good on top and are so gooey. They also cook at the same time as the skillets, in the air fryer. They require banana, cinnamon, sugar and some spray oil to make them extra gooey and golden.

And to serve:

• Dairy-free ice cream: use your favourite dairy-free ice cream like vanilla, salted caramel or even chocolate.

What else can I fill this cookie with?

If you don’t want to make your own salted caramel, try:

• Easy Vegan Homemade Nutella (pictured above) or use shop-bought vegan chocolate spread
• Ready-made salted caramel sauce
• Peanut, cashew or almond butter or tahini/sunflower seed butter
• Jam of any kind (shop-bought or homemade or chia seed jam)
• Orange or lemon curd (as shown above)

How do I make this recipe?

This cookie skillet is so easy to make, thanks to the Dual Air Fryer (my code NOURISHINGAMY20 will save you 20%!) which I am loving right now. It’s from Salter and has two compartments so you can cook the bananas and the cookies at the same time, even if they need different amounts of cooking time. You can also make this in a regular air fryer, you may need to cook the skillets and then cook the bananas if you don’t have enough room.

• Make the salted caramel sauce: if needed, and allow this to firm up overnight in the frigde.
• Stir together all the wet ingredients for the cookie dough: till smooth.
• Add in the flours and stir again: to a sticky dough.
• Fold in the chopped banana and chocolate chips: to bring together.
• Scoop some cookie dough into two lined and greased ramekins: and make a small dent.
• Spoon some caramel (or other sauce) into the middles: to make the gooey centre.
• Add on more cookie dough and seal in the edges: to make sure no caramel escapes.
• Add on more chocolate chips: and air fry/bake for 13 minutes, till golden on top and gooey inside. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
• For the bananas: slice them and toss with the cinnamon and sugar and lay out on a parchment.
• Air fry the bananas for 8 minutes: until golden and sticky.
• Serve the cookie dough skillets in the ramekins or on plates: topped with ice cream and the bananas.

Can I cook this in the oven?

Yes, I am sure you can cook these in the oven:

• For the skillets: follow the same method and bake for 18-20 minutes at 160Fan/180ºC till golden on top and gooey inside.
• For the bananas: pan-fry these, like in my recipe here.

Is this gluten-free and nut-free?

Yes this dessert is gluten-free (please make sure your oats/oat flour are gluten-free) and to make this nut-free, swap the ground almonds or ground seeds (or plain flour) and swap the almond butter for tahini or sunflower seed butter. Also check that your chocolate and ice cream do not contain nuts.

How long will this last?

Enjoy these gooey and warm after 10 minutes or allow to cool fully and enjoy warm (and still fudgy) for the next 2-3 days. Keep the ramekins covered in the fridge and warm back up for 4 minutes in the air fryer. You can also freeze the skillets (make sure the dish is freezer-safe and when in doubt, allow to cool and wrap in a Ziploc bag and then freeze) for 1 month and allow to defrost before eating cold or warm.

What other recipes can I make?

If you are looking for other healthier desserts, how about my:

• Raspberry White Chocolate Oat Cookies
• Sticky Toffee Banana Bread Pudding
• Chocolate Pecan Mousse Pie
• Pecan Peanut Butter Cup Frosted Brownies
• Cinnamon Streusel Banana Bread

Shop the recipe

Stay in touch

I look forward to hearing what you think of these Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Skillets with Caramelised Bananas so please leave a comment below and a review above. If you do make these, I’d love to see so please tag me, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With cookie skillet love x

p.s. the recipe was first made with Salter UK for social media, although this blog post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.