I know many of us are getting tired of making the same old banana bread recipe in order to use up our overripe bananas. So I came up with a new and exciting way to use bananas to make a special treat that tastes decadent but is still (sort of) healthy!
This recipe uses unsweetened cocoa powder to make the brownies taste really rich. However, there are no eggs or butter in the ingredient list so it is actually vegan. Instead, to keep the brownies moist and fluffy, we use two ripe bananas and applesauce. These ingredients, plus the vinegar and baking soda, actually mimics eggs and butter to make the brownies rise up and have a cake-like consistency.
You can add variety to your brownies by adding in nuts or chocolate chips too. Let us know what special additions you tried!
Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
½ cup apple sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 and ¼ cup flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Optional- chopped nuts or chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and generously grease an 8×8 square baking dish. To keep this recipe vegan, you can use oil (coconut, canola, vegetable) or margarine to grease the dish. You can also use regular butter if you prefer.
- In a large bowl, mash the two bananas. If you want a really smooth texture, mash the bananas well until there aren’t any clumps. (I like to have banana pieces in my brownies so I didn’t mash mine too much.)
- Then add in the wet ingredients- applesauce, sugars, water, and vinegar- and mix well.
- Then add in the dry ingredients- flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Gently mix just until combined, but don’t overmix because that will ruin the fluffy texture when it bakes.
- If you are adding nuts or chocolate chips, add those in now.
- Pour the batter into the greased baking dish.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
- Let cool completely in the pan.
- Cut into 9 even squares and serve!
