Now, I'm the first to admit that I don't like fresh bananas. I'll eat them, if they're mostly green with a tiny yellow blush, but given the choice, I'm finding another fruit. Baked into bread, cake or cookies is a different story, and I even love mashing a frozen one with some cocoa powder for a mock ice cream (especially since chocolate makes everything better). My mom and stepdad, though, eat them out of hand a lot over the winter in particular, and on weekday mornings my mom regularly slices one over her oatmeal and blueberries.
Even so, I have a running freezer cache of bananas too far gone for anything but mashing, and as you know I've made my fair share of banana bread over the years. But then I found a great use for them (that included chocolate!) on Whisk, Write, Repeat. Banana Brownies. I know... how much more delicious can you make the rejected fruit? I re-veganized the recipe, added some vanilla soy protein powder for a little "oomph" (I was serving it to a crowd that included finicky kids who hardly ate anything). I was able to use the delicious Pure Via Stevia (the baking blend) to cut down the sugar a bit, while the sugar I did use was the rich dark brown variety. For a little added texture (and fun), I tossed in a few handfuls of Cheerios along with the chocolate chunk - the chunks added pockets of gooeyness that were a joy to discover! The kids lapped them up - and considering their taste preferences I was definitely patting myself on the back.
Banana Brownies
Makes one 9x13" pan, 18 large pieces
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup vanilla protein powder (I used a soy blend)
1 cup Pure Via Stevia blend (or sugar)
½ cup muscovado sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 finely mashed bananas
⅓ cup unsweetened soy milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1 cup Cheerios
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13" baking dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, protein powder, stevia, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- In another large bowl, mix the mashed bananas, soy milk, canola oil and vanilla.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients, stirring till just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks and Cheerios.
- Pour evenly into the baking pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Calories: 173.0
Total Fat: 6.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 98.3 mg
Total Carbs: 30.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.4 g
Protein: 5.0 g
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