Banana Split Cookie at Milk Jar Cookies

A banana split is made with good intentions: three scoops of ice cream, usually chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, rested on a fresh whole banana halved lengthwise and dressed with warmed chocolate syrup. As is frequently the case, nuts are optional.

Once removed from a freezer, ice cream tends to have a mind of its own, often melting at a rate more rapid — no doubt encouraged by the residual heat of chocolate syrup — than would allow most of us enjoying it at leisure. And around the fifth or sixth scoopful, a banana split usually becomes dessert soup.

We didn't really consider this to be a problem in need of a solution until we came across the banana split in cookie form at Milk Jar Cookies. Baked fresh throughout the day, the cookie — as with other selections at the Mid-Wilshire shop — is no one-bite wonder. Nor is it a flat disc, crispy as a Saltine. These are sizable rounds, with a center that lends a softer bite than the initial crunch at the edges.

The banana split comes topped with a strawberry slice baked right in. If you happen to order one from a batch baked fresh, you'll see even more clearly the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and chopped walnuts peeking through fissures. Shop co-owner Courtney Cowan makes a cookie dough based on fresh bananas; then she accents each batch with toppings reminiscent of a classic banana split. It's the banana cookie dough that completes the mimicry. The cookie is part of what Cowan calls her ice cream line.

The shop opened about three weeks ago and the banana split has already gained a following. Co-owner (and Cowan's husband) Adam Tiller says the cookies are available daily, but often sell out soon after they're placed on display.

“People come from far and wide for the banana split,” he says.

A recent Instagram from the shop showed two customers giddy over a fresh batch of banana splits. And why not? A banana split without the potential goopy fallout would make your inner 7-year-old pretty happy too.

And in related news:

– Now Open: Milk Jar Cookies in Mid-Wilshire

– Yoga-Inspired Cookie Cutters: Strike, Then Eat, a Pose

– 10 Best Cookies in Los Angeles

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