Bana-nies

caramelized banana brownies

There’s been a banana shortage of late here in Barbados, so when I finally came across some randomly in a local gas station’s convenience store, I was happy to quickly stock up on these suddenly rare fruit.

I had originally only wanted them for smoothies, but somewhere in my head the idea for banana brownies took hold and didn’t let go until I gave in and made some earlier in the week.

I kind of “winged it” with a basic brownie recipe, skipping the cocoa powder and using 3 caramelised bananas in its stead. The aluminum pan I used was twice the size than my 9x13 recipe called for, and that paired with the error of greasing the pan with oil still made tasty tasty baked brownies, though very much on the thin side, with the moisture from the oil keeping most of the batter to moist the get a proper brownie/cake texture — and also a struggle to lift from the pan with a plain spatula.

I have since revisited that recipe, making neccessary corrections, and was able to porduce something far more in line with my original vision for these banana brownies.

And though I don’t think I’ve ever offered a recipe for any of the meals I’ve shared on this site, I am making an exception for these banana brownies — which I’m not too cleverly calling “bana-nies”, and having now said that, I will eschew the frustrations many have when recipe-hunting — that is, of having to scroll through paragraphs of text just to get to the actual recipe — and will offer the recips immediately forthwith.

BANA-NIES

INGREDIENTS

BROWNIE BASE
2 cups sugar (I used brown sugar for these)
1-1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

CARAMELIZED BANANAS
2 bananas
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsps butter
1/4 water
1 tsp cinnamon

(I forgot to add my planned 1/2 tsp of vanilla, but really didn’t miss and probably cleaerer banana flavor without it.)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350º.

In a big bowl the brownie base butter with the base sugar until thoroughly integrated . In a separate bowl, completely mix baking soda and salt into flour. Transfer flour mix into bowl with buttered sugar and mix until uniform consistency.

Stir eggs into batter, one at a time, until batter is smooth.

Add water and butter for caramelized bananas into a pan over medium heat. Slice bananas into 1/2-inch pieces and add to pan. Add sugar and cinnamon, and continue to stir slowly until bananas are soft all the way through and the sugar just begins to caramelized.

Transfer contents of pan into a blend and blend until smooth. Add resulting liquid into batter and stir until completely integrated.

Pour batter into ungreased 9”x13” pan (these I made in a 9”x9” pan which is why they’re a little taller than typical brownie height). Bake at 350º for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick placed into the middle of the cake pan comes out clean and dry.

Remove from oven and serve warm with ice cream or, when it’s cool enough, dig right in, eating them using your bare hands.

As recipes go, I can only hope this first one serves you well. If it does let me know and maybe it won’t be another lifetime before I share another one.