About 30 seconds into developing the recipe for this week’s Treat of the Week I found myself asking ‘why isn’t this combination more common?’. With the non-stop line up of mint chocolate this and cranberry orange that, why haven’t we gotten on board with banana butterscotch. I am telling you now, once you have tried it, you will understand my confusion. It is simply delicious.
The addition of fresh banana and a little extra flour makes these blondies a bit more cakey than a typical brownie, but I am willing to overlook that in this instance. The bars are a bit moist with plenty of texture from the crunchy nuts and firm butterscotch chips. The flavors are sweet and comforting… like banana nut bread and the butterscotch disks from your mom’s pocketbook had a love child. So here is your assignment… make these, eat these, share these. We might just start a trend. People might just love them so much they go, well… bananas.
savour… new trends
BANANA BUTTERSCOTCH BLONDIES
Before you start:
Like banana nut bread, slightly overripe bananas are best for this treat. They will be sweeter and easier to smash.
Toast the chopped pecans. Really. Don’t skip this step. Your tastebuds will thank you.
We pressed some butterscotch chips directly into the top of the cake while it was still hot (be careful). This step is completely optional.
Tip: when you get ready to cut the blondies, use a serrated knife. Let the knife do the work while you gently ‘saw’ into the cake. The result will be less broken pieces and a cleaner cut.
The ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour / 200g
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar / 130g
- 1/4 cup sugar / 55 g
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup banana (about 1 medium), smashed / 110g
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted / 115g
- 2/3 cup butterscotch chips / 115g
The method:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F and line an 8″x8″ brownie pan with aluminum foil. Spray foil lightly with cooking spray. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Boil for 3-5 minutes until butter is light golden brown and smells a bit nutty. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar and sugar. Continue mixing until sugars are dissolved. Cool to slightly warm.
- Place butter/sugar mixture in a bowl and add egg, yolk, corn syrup, banana, and vanilla. Stir until well combined.
- Add toasted pecans and butterscotch chips. Stir just until combined.
- Put batter into greased pan and smooth out top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake until the top is golden brown and center of cake passes the clean toothpick test (about 28-33 minutes).
- Remove from heat and cool slightly in pan on a wire rack before lifting blondies out of the pan using the foil as handles. Allow blondies to cool completely before peeling away foil. Cut with a serrated knife. Store in an airtight container.
