Sticky Toffee Banana Brownies

Okay, so imagine if a chocolate fudge brownie and a banana bread had a love child. And now imagine if that love child got married to a sticky toffee pudding. This is what the honeymoon would look like. YES. I know I got a little carried away. It started off as a simple need to use up some ripe bananas, I didn't have any more space in my freezer for it...and then ooh I had leftover Lindt chocolate! And next thing I know I had made this monster of a dessert. But OH MY GOD IT TASTES SO GOOD.

This dessert is what our modern-day Cookie Monster would classify strictly as a 'sometimes food'. Yes, there is basically a whole block of butter once you add the sauce...and a whole lot of cream and sugar...but as long as you can restrict your portion size then you can happily enjoy it. I suppose it's like everything I bake on this blog, everything in moderation.

But I had a little trouble stopping myself from eating a lot of this. When I took it out of the oven the entire corner somehow magically disappeared into my mouth within 5 minutes. When I whipped up the toffee sauce and drizzled it on top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream it was gone even faster than that. And A must have eaten two servings big enough to feed an entire table of people. When I placed it in front of him he said, "It looks good..." to which I replied cockily, "It IS good. It's really good". This made him scoff and tell me I was full of it. But then he ate it. And made a noise that was sounded sort of like, "Mmmohmmmmpphfffffffyummmwowwwohhh", and promptly asked for another portion before he had even finished his first portion. This is coming from the boy who doesn't like desserts and usually looks like he is in pain when I shove a spoonful of something in his mouth for him to taste test.

The key to this dish is the lovely flavour of the ripe bananas mixed in with that rich dark chocolate. I used 70% cocoa Lindt, which meant that the brownie was a bit more bitter and not as sweet as my usual brownies, but this made it perfect for the banana and the sweet sticky toffee sauce. The sauce is very sweet, so if you want to save a few calories and skip the sauce, I would recommend using a less bitter semi-sweet dark chocolate for your brownie. I used vanilla bean paste for my toffee sauce which infused it with a beautifully heady flavour and scent. Make sure you don't overbake the brownie, as it will make it dry rather than fudgy, and it's best eaten on when freshly baked because it will still be gooey and warm inside while having a crackly, crisp outer layer. Vanilla ice cream is a must for me, but I did serve it with just the sauce on its own the next day and it still tasted pretty awesome.

Banana Chocolate Brownies with Sticky Toffee Sauce
For the brownie:
250g mashed ripe banana (approx 2-3 medium bananas)
200g unsalted butter
190g dark chocolate (I used 70% lindt)
3 eggs
230g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
add banana with chocolate

For the sticky toffee sauce:
175g butter
175ml pure cream
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
280g brown sugar

To serve: Vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 20x30cm (or larger if you prefer thinner brownies like me) baking tin. Cut butter into cubes and roughly chop up chocolate and place both in a heatproof bowl. Melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler (or very carefully in the microwave) and then set aside to cool. I call this The Bowl of Sin.

The Bowl of Sin

Beat eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer on low speed until they are well combined. Beat in chocolate mixture and mashed banana until combined well.

Fold flour gently into the mixture until just combined, taking care to not overmix.

Pour into prepared tin, smooth over with a spatula and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with moist crumbs and no raw batter stuck to it. It is better to undercook it slightly when taking it out of the oven as it will cook a little more while cooling in the tin.Cool completely in its tray on a wire rack then turn out onto rack and cut into squares.

While the brownies are cooling, place all the ingredients for the toffee sauce in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat, stirring until the butter melts. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and cool.

Serve brownies with a scoop of vanilla icecream and drizzle the warm sticky toffee sauce on top. Yum.

P.S. Apologies for the really ugly scoop of ice cream in the photos, all I had for scooping the ice cream at the time was a tiny teaspoon, and on a hot day melty desserts are not my camera's friend!