Eggless chocolate banana brownies

Just the last time I posted the chocolate brownie  recipe, I had written about the origin of brownie, where someone ran out of baking powder and the flat cakes came into existence. Then, a  school friend of mine requested for an eggless version of the brownie. Over the weekend, I tried a couple of recipes, all within the framework of a brownie, i.e without baking powder. But they tasted rather flat.

Now how bad can a mixture of flour, butter and sugar baked together taste? Not that bad. Ever. I agree. But the experimental brownies lacked the zing. There needed to be something replacing the moistness that comes with egg, but it shouldn’t taste like raw clumsy batter.

I tried adding curd, then some milk. It tasted like yoghurt. Out.

Then some sweetened condensed milk. It got very sticky. Out.

Then half a cup mashed banana and some hot water. That felt right. But still something was missing.

Then I added some baking powder. 1 teaspoon of it and just a tiny 1/4th teaspoon of baking soda. It worked very well. Now we are talking of some brownie heaven. After 3 alterations, I settled down on this perfect eggless version of brownies. Albeit, with baking powder.

I am experimenting with a lot of eggless version of cakes and cookies. Promise to come back with more.

Eggless Banana Brownie Recipe

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (approx. 1 1/2 bananas)
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp regular salted butter at room temperature
• 1 and 1/2 cup chopped chocolate chunks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt if using unsalted butter

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. This not only aerates the mixture, but also ensures that you don’t bite into a lump of baking powder/ soda.
3. In another heatproof bowl melt the chocolate chunks and butter and whisk well, till it forms a smooth mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, mashed bananas, water and vanilla essence and then add the chocolate mixture to it. Stir till all combines together.
5. Now fold in the flour mixture. Do not over-mix. Stop as soon as you see no more streaks of flour.
6. Lightly grease a 9 inch baking tray and then line with parchment paper. Pour the brownie mixture in the prepared tray.
7. Bake at 180°C for about 30-35 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Let it cool down for 10 minutes and then on a wire rack let it cool completely before cutting into pieces.

You can add toasted and chopped walnuts or cashew-nuts in the batter before folding in flour.

Once cooled, drizzle it with powdered sugar and your banana brownies are ready to be served or eaten with a cup of milk, or some cardamom chai.

These brownies stay in the refrigerator for as long as you want. I have about 2 boxes full of brownies right now. Slightly warm them before eating.

The plus side of eggless desserts : You can do a taste check on the dough while mixing 🙂