Banana Chocolate Brownies

The very first thing I ever posted on Books Baking and Blogging was my brownie recipe. I’ve made it tons of times since (it’s still a favourite — both with me and my friends), but the other day I decided to give it a new little twist. I had some overripe bananas lying around, and what better way to use these than to bake something delicious with them?

I was having a bit of a bad day that day, so I decided fairly quickly that there would have to be a large amount of chocolate involved with this baked goodie. I also didn’t have that much time, since a friend of mine was coming over — so it needed to be something quick. Solution? Brownies!

My friend Emmie (who blogs!) and I devoured some of these while watching an episode of Friends, and I gave her a couple to take home as well. The next day, I’d just decided that they tasted even better than the previous day when Emmie texted me to tell me the exact same thing! So, if you decide to make these: make them a day in advance! It really does make a difference. On the first day we both felt that a little something might be missing, but that feeling was gone completely on day two.

You’ll need…

• 120 g softened/melted butter
• 140 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 70 g plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 200 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
• a baking tin (mine is 20 x 24 cm)
• and an oven, of course! These brownies need to be baked at 150 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Melt the chocolate You can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but I always prefer to melt it au bain marie style.

2. Mix sugar and butter Take a bowl and mix the sugar together with the softened or melted butter. I always melt the butter completely, because it’s much easier to work with that way, and the consistency doesn’t really change much for this batter.

3. Add eggs and banana Once the sugar and the butter is evenly mixed, you have to add the eggs to the mixture one by one and whisk it through. Also add the mashed banana (I mashed it with a fork) to the batter now.

4. Add the flour and the salt Next up, you should add the flour and a pinch of salt to the mix and whisk it all through. The mixture will probably be quite lumpy because of the banana (although this depends on how well you’ve mashed the banana).

5. Add melted chocolate Oh, don’t you love this part? It’s the best part of making a brownie batter! Pour the melted chocolate into the batter, and mix that heavenly stuff through the mixture.

6. Bake the brownie! Pour your batter into a greased and floured tin, and put it in the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check if they’re done by inserting a skewer – if it comes out (more or less) clean, it’s done! They should still be a little bit moist, though, so don’t bake them for too long. Just make sure your batter is cooked. After you’ve taken the tin out of the oven, wait about 5 to 10 minutes before cutting the brownie into squares.

And that’s it! You have yourself some delicious banana chocolate brownies! Like I said, they taste best on the day after (or even the day after the day after). Enjoy!