Banana Nut Brownies

Another brownie recipe. Blame the bananas. My abhorrence to throwing away overripe bananas from our fruit basket has led me to look for alternative uses to it all the time. Any new recipes are welcome. If the family loves it, it will become a classic to come back to over and over again. Otherwise, it's been nice trying them. This one is something of a delightful surprise whose taste, texture, and smell I truly truly love. The banana gives a wonderful aroma blended with the characteristic wonderful whiff of the chocolate while the muscovado sugar lends a treacle-like flavour. My kids though, find the flavours a bit too strong. For their benefit (maybe just maybe), next time I bake this I have to reduce the chocs and probably the sugar. But if you like your brownies very chocolatey, a little fudgy, crumbly, and quite moist then this is for you.

Adapted from BBC GoodFood Magazine's 101 Cakes & Bakes.


Banana Nut Brownies

175 g  butter - cut into pieces
300 g  [1 2/3 cups firmly packed] light muscovado sugar
150 g  dark chocolate - broken into pieces
100 g  [3/4 cup] nuts - chopped
3 eggs - beaten
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
100 g  [3/4 cup] self-raising flour
1 Tbsp cocoa powder [optional]
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F/gas mark 4. Butter and line a 7 x 11-inch baking pan with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt butter, chocolate, and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat.
3. Sift flour, cocoa [optional], and baking powder in a separate bowl. Mix well.
4. Add in nuts, mashed banana, and eggs to the chocolate mixture.
5. Fold in the flour mixture to the chocolate-banana mixture.
6. Pour batter into the lined baking pan and bake for 40 minutes or until firm in the centre.
7. Cool in the pan; turn out and cut into squares.

*Update 26/05/07: Reduced chocolate from 175 gm to 150 gm. Reduced baking powder from 1 tsp to 1/2 tsp. Increased baking time from 35 mins. to 40 mins.