These Banana Bread Brownies are exactly as the name describes. A combination of two classics- banana bread and brownie recipes mashed together to make these awesome squares! Think banana bread squares swirled with layers of chocolatey brownie throughout.  Warm thick cut banana bread with beautiful pockets of dark chocolate brownies peaking through. 

These brownies have the texture of banana bread and bake nice and fluffy with a light brownie bite throughout. They bake up in about half the time of a typical banana bread recipe and don’t require too much additional time to prepare. If you’ve baked banana bread before you know its quite easy to whip up and a great recipe to make by hand using just your whisk. For the brownie recipe I stuck with something simple as it gets mixed into another recipe. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy and super gooey and fudgy. 

BANANA BREAD

I always make the same old banana bread recipe I’ve been making since I was a teenager which is inspired by my grandmothers recipe. Engraved into my brain from making it so much when I was a kid I remember her handwriting on that old recipe card. She loved making hers with a mix of white sugar and brown sugar which is exactly as I have done. I start off my mixing the butter and sugars together then start to add my eggs and vanilla. Once that’s all mixed together the dry ingredients can be added to the bowl. The flour doesn’t need to pass through a sift just mix it in 1/2 cup at a time to get a good consistency and make it easier on your mixing arm. 

BROWNIE MIX

For this brownie batter I like to use good quality dark chocolate rounds which I usually buy in bulk locally from Bulk Barn here in town. These are Belgian dark chocolate wafers. What I love about these is that they stay soft and never get hard. Unlike the chipits or grocery store chocolate chips that come in those big bags. I never microwave my chocolate because I find it gets hard and can burn, my preferred method is to boil some water in a small pot stovetop and melt the butter and chocolate in a heat proof bowl overtop. You don’t need a lot of water or a large pot to get the chocolate to melt so its a pretty quick and the microwave doesn’t really save you that much time. The nice thing about the hot water under the bowl is that you can turn the heat off and leave the bowl sitting overtop to keep the chocolate from hardening while you get the rest of the recipe ready. Once the chocolate is nice and melted and has cooled a bit, it gets mixed in with the beaten eggs and sugar. When it comes time to add the flour its always recommended to just fold in the dry ingredients for brownies to avoid overmixing otherwise too much air gets added to the batter and it won’t be as dense and fudgy. 

ASSEMBLE

To bake these I chose a 13×9 rectangle baking dish but anything you have that will make squares will work. I layered about half the banana bread mixture across the bottom on top of parchment paper then dolloped tablespoon sizes of brownie batter across and covered it with tablespoon sizes of the remaining banana bread. I gently swirled the mixture to combine them both and to create swirls and pockets of brownie throughout. I had some extra brownie batter so I dolloped it overtop in the areas I felt were lacking. Bake for 30-35 minutes depending on how gooey you want the centres to be. You can insert a toothpick in the centre to make sure it comes out clean or under bake a little bit and let it finish cooking in the pan once removed from the oven to get it all gooey in the middle. 

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banana bread brownies

These Banana Bread Brownies are exactly as the name describes. A combination of two classics- banana bread and brownie recipes mashed together to make these awesome squares! Think banana bread squares swirled with layers of chocolatey brownie throughout.  Warm thick cut banana bread with beautiful pockets of dark chocolate brownies peaking through. 

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 12

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• Banana Bread
• 3-4 large ripe bananas mashed
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
• 1 TBS vanilla
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• Brownies
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate wafers
• 3 eggs
• 1 TBS vanilla
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Instructions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9 baking dish with parchment paper.
• 2. Banana Bread: In a large bowl, combine softened butter with sugars and mix until just combined. whisk in the eggs and vanilla to combine followed by the mashed bananas. Combine the dry ingredients together and add them to the wet mixture mixing to incorporate. Set aside.
• 3. Brownies: warm boiling water in a small saucepan stovetop. Place a heat proof bowl overtop to create a double boiler. Melt butter with dark chocolate and set aside to cool.
• 4. Using a stand mixer and an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs, sugars, and vanilla until light and creamy. About 4-5 minutes. Fold in the cooled melted chocolate with a spatula to incorporate. Sieve together the flour and cocoa powder and fold into the wet brownie mixture.
• 5. To assemble: Spread about half the banana bread mixture into the prepared baking dish. Dollop large tablespoon sizes of the brownie batter across and layer the remaining banana bread mixture in between. Gently swirl with a spoon or knife to create pockets and combine together. Swirl overtop extra brownie batter if desired. Bake for 30-35 minutes. For fully cooked insert a toothpick in the centre to ensure it comes out clean and remove from the oven. For slightly gooey remove after 30 minutes and allow to finish baking and cool in the pan.
• 6. Enjoy!