As usual, I had a whole butt load of over-ripe bananas waiting around in my freezer, so I wanted to try cleaning them out with a new recipe, and not just another banana bread. Flipping through the pages of my beloved Vegan with a Vengance, I found the prize I was seeking: Banana Split Pudding Brownies.
Melting the chocolate and mashing copious amounts of bananas, the smells emanating from my the kitchen were devine. Into the pan the brownie base went to begin assembly! … Wait, this is all the batter there is? I’m positive I didn’t grab a bigger pan…
What went wrong this time?! It was a struggle to get the brownie to coat the entire bottom of my 13 x 9 baking dish, as if I had made half the recipe or something! And no, I swear I followed it to the letter this time. The banana topping didn’t seem nearly thick enough, either, so I added much more cornstarch to the mix. (Okay, maybe I changed the arrow root to corn starch, but that was the only substitution, just because we didn’t have any in the house!)
Trying to stay optimistic, the pudding topping went over the sparse base, and I simply thought it would look nicer with a little more… Pizzaz, for lack of a better word. The book suggested garnishing with fresh slices of banana, but lacking any remaining in a solid form, I reached into the depths of my fridge and pulled out some left over chocolate ganash. Just a few generous stripes across would do the trick.
As you can see, they are rather… vertically challenged, to put it gently. Nonetheless, as long as it’s not burnt, I figured how bad can chocolate be?
If I had been aiming to make cookie bars, I would have been overjoyed. They had a very chewy, almost crisp texture. And like always, the flavor was still spot on, wonderfully banana-y and sweet. Handing them out to friends, I decided to call them “banana split fudge bars” instead, and they seemed to go over pretty well. One girl that I served them to commented that she doesn’t usually like banana, but thought that these were rather tasty! Kinda shocking, considering that the recipe uses 4 bananas, and tries in no way to hide them! I only wish that they had risen or something… Maybe if I make these again, I’ll just try using a smaller pan, or doubling the brownie base.
They look great! I think there are two kinds of brownies, cake-y brownies and fudge-y brownies, and both have their place. Your improvised garnish is a nice touch, too.
On a side note, I got to meet Isa on Saturday! She signed my book and I got to try some of the cupcakes from her next book. It was so exciting! (And I’m a geek.)