Sunday 22 November 2015

Sunday baking: Banana Blondies

I made these once in the week but have repeated them today, as I have a surfeit of brown bananas. This was good, as it allowed me to tweak the original recipe a little. While they really did come out with no hint of cakiness about them, I was actually a bit sorry about this, so I have added some raising agents to try to combat this. I also used brown sugar instead of white to up the fudge factor, in direct competition with the raising agents.

Ingredients:
Bars
150g white chocolate
125g butter
1 large egg
125g light brown soft sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Half tsp baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste

Glaze
65g butter, browned
150g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Milk, to desired consistency

Zap the white chocolate and butter in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir until combined, then heat again in short bursts until all the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool a little.

Beat the egg and sugar until the mixture has gone pale in colour and increased in volume a bit. With the mixer running, pour in the chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat until smooth; then beat in the bananas. Sift the dry ingredients over the mixture and fold in gently - don't overmix. Turn into a square brownie pan (which you should grease and line unless you're using lazy silicone, like me) and bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour, until springy to the touch.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Brown the butter - this involves heating the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until it goes brown. Mine frothed right up so this was difficult to see so I was (unusually) cautious - you don't want it to go TOO brown. Place in a mixer with the icing sugar and vanilla and beat slowly until combined. Add milk slowly until you get the right consistency - this is a glaze, so you're looking for pour rather than spread.

Pour the glaze over the bars and resist the temptation to cut them up until the glaze as set - go on, I dare you.

Many thanks to Averie Cooks for this recipe.

No comments: