February 05, 2008

Now These Are Brownies!


Once again, most importantly, if you haven’t yet done so, get yourself over to Culinate and enter the Death by Chocolate contest to win a trip for 2 to Napa Valley and then vote for me so that I can meet you there! Just click on the pretty chocolate button. Once you’ve done that, come on back to read about Strawberry Banana Brownies.



After teasing you with Peanut Butter Blondies, I thought it was only fair that I post about some real brownies. Because talking about brownies while showing you blondies is just mean. It’s like when Mom says something like “I was going to get you (insert present here) but then wasn’t sure if you’d like it, so I got you nothing.” Inevitably, the present in question was something awesome like a cookbook and of course I would have wanted it! It really doesn’t even matter what it was, it’s a present, and who doesn’t like unexpected gifts? No one.


These brownies were my own concoction as I’ve had a craving for banana bread lately, but wanted something with more chocolate. It was then that I remembered a post I did a long time ago for the Brownie Babe blogging event about Banana Brownies. Although I’m sure those brownies were tasty, (they had cacao nibs in them, of course they were!) I didn’t want to make them again. As I’ve stated before, I generally don’t like to make the same thing twice unless it was really amazing and even then I’ll be tempted to change something about it to try to make it even better. Today, for example, I knew I had some dried strawberries in the cupboard that would be an excellent addition to any brownie. I also thought those strawberries would be particularly good if they were flamed in rum. This is a technique that I’ve been a fan of ever since I made a Dorie Greenspan recipe that required me to flame prunes in armagnac. Now I use it anytime I used dried fruit in a recipe. While I’m handing out tips worth their weight in gold, here’s another one that I learned from Dorie: whenever adding zest to a recipe, use your fingers to rub it into the sugar instead of just tossing it willy nilly into the batter. Two great tips in one post, what more do you want from me?


If you’d like some more white chocolate in your life, try these White Chocolate Almond Cookies, another recipe that came out of my Allrecipes.com Tried & True Cookies book. They were originally supposed to be White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, but all I had were almonds and seeing as though the batter called for almond extract anyways, I figured it would be a good swap. It was.


Bri’s Strawberry Banana Brownies


1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 eggs

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 bananas, mashed

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 oz milk chocolate, chopped

½ cup dried strawberries, chopped

2 oz white chocolate


Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan combine the dried strawberries with 1/3 cup water, bring to a boil. Watch to make sure the fruit does not scorch. When almost all of the water has been absorbed, removed from the heat, add a splash of rum and light on fire. Let the alcohol burn off. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, sugars, bananas, oil and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Stir in the strawberries and any remaining rum as well as the chopped chocolate.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 20-24 minutes until the top is dry and springy to the touch. Allow to cool in the pan before unmolding.

To top, melt white chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler and drizzle overtop of the cooled brownies.



Vote for me in the Death by Chocolate contest



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28 comments:

Peabody said...

Now you are getting creative! Would never think to add those...but why not!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Yes those are Brownies Bri!
Both your tips are good. Flamed fruit . . . in bread . . .

Veron said...

Oh wow , more brownies. Yummy, Bri!

Madam Chow said...

Great tips, and . . . now I want to go bake brownies! What about my diet?!

Deborah said...

You are giving me a serious craving for brownies!!

breadchick said...

Well now I've just gained 6 pounds just catching up with you since the Lemon Meringue Pie...

But at least with this recipe, I got 2 servings of fruit!!

I'm with Peabody, I would never have thunk to put those two items in brownies and why the heck not! I love banana splits and the strawberry and chocolate topped part are my favourite part.

Make these, pull them out of the oven and serve them warm with a scoop of ice cream. Viola! Instant banana split without the overly sweet pineapple part.

OK, off to buy strawberries and bananas now...

Gigi said...

Amazing brownie combination! I would have never thought of strawberry & banana brownies. Yummy!

RecipeGirl said...

Hmmm. Interesting. Hi Bri- thanks for visiting my blog. I keep hearing about yours so I thought I'd pay it a visit. Looks like you have some nice things to share! (yummy!)

Lori
http://TheRecipeGirl.blogspot.com

Kitty said...

wow, my husband would love banana brownies...

test it comm said...

Brownies with bananas and strawberries sounds really good. Not just any strawberries but flaming rum'd strawberries!

Anonymous said...

Oooh...these look awesome! I think I've got some dried strawberries in the pantry...strawberry banana is one of my favorite combinations - even better with chocolate!

Kajal@aapplemint said...

I must admit its a rather unusual combination but it definitely has my attention. They look so nice.

Helene said...

Now that's unusual and very creative! Love it!!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Send some my way and make my gray day brighter, my friend, please! :)

Katy said...

yum!!! and totally healthy, i think. :-)

Cakespy said...

Now that is what I call a brownie!!! Awesome! Fire does kind of make things better!

Maria said...

Brownies are my favorite dessert, I will have to try your twist on the traditional!

Emily said...

Ha, you're really pushing the contest, too. I am, but I'm kind of tired.
I like your blog, so I would happy if you won.

These brownies look delicious! Way to go!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

I'm sensing that you reeeeallly want to win this trip! Your brownies look delicious and I love the squiggles on top.

Casey said...

fabulous sounding brownies--thanks from one brownie (and dorie greenspan fan) to another

Casey said...

oops--small typo above : should have read "one brownie (and dorie greenspan) fan...

Anonymous said...

yeah B, imma need you to take those down, right now!!

wow...almost tempted to go buy Crocker's brownie mix!

PheMom said...

OK, these brownies look heavenly. I must make them and soon! I however have some dried cherries...hmmm. We'll see.

Nic said...

Oh you naughty girl! Those brownies are so wicked and delicious and the chocolate on the top is the crowning glory!

Cynthia said...

I am not a chocolate lover but just looking at this pic makes me yearn to have one of your brownies. It's a pity I am so far away. Don't bother telling me to do make it. I want one of yours (lol)

Anonymous said...

Bri’s Strawberry Banana Brownies are just what I've been looking for! There's an 'event' coming up that needs, and I mean needs, Bri’s Strawberry Banana Brownies. Thanks for sharing ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Bri, I would have never thought to put bananas or strawberries in a brownie...but it looks and sounds very delicious! Great idea! :)

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

These look great, now I wonder how to go about making a peanut butter version. I have yet to perfect the addition of peanut butter in baking. It doesn't work the same as butter or oil, but perhaps adding an extra mashed banana would allow the addition of maybe 1/4 cup peanut butter? I think I'll have a go at these soon. Looks delicious, thanks!

- Nick
http://PeanutButterBoy.blogspot.com