This is one of the best, most delicious brownies that I’ve ever made – and I’ve made a lot. It’s dense and fudgy with a rich chocolate and banana flavour combination. The biscuit base adds an extra dimension. And I get the chance to indulge in a bit of alliteration. I had to hold myself back and not preamble the title with adjectives such as “brilliant” or “beautiful”. I’ve even made it as a gluten free bake, but it’s OK if you don’t want to go down that line, I’ve given alternative ingredients.

Makes: 16 squares

Time: 20 – 25 minutes to prep. 35 – 40 minutes to bake. At least 60 minutes chilling in the fridge then 5 minutes to cut and finish off.

Level: Easy

Need: A 20cm (8”) square baking tin

Gluten free Biscuit base ingredients

125g/4½oz oatmeal or oat bran
50g/1¾oz polenta (can be replaced with oatmeal or ground almonds)
50g/1¾oz ground almonds
75g/2½oz butter
25g/1oz golden syrup

Regular biscuit base ingredients

200g/7oz digestives
75g/2½oz butter
25g/1oz golden syrup

For the Brownies

100g/3½oz unsalted butter + a little to grease the tin
300g/10oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
125g/4½oz golden caster sugar
125g/4½oz soft light brown sugar
75g/2½oz golden syrup
2 or 3 bananas (ideally ripe*)
4 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g/3½oz gluten free plain flour (or use ordinary flour)
½ tsp xanthan gum powder (omit if using ordinary flour)
½ tsp salt
16 dried banana chips, for decorating

*If you only have firm bananas, stab them a few times with a fork or knife and give them two or three 20 second blasts in the microwave to soften them. Take care opening them as they will be hot and possibly steamy.

Method

Biscuit base

1. Butter & line the tin. Melt the butter and golden syrup, taking care not to let it reach boiling point. Mix together the dry ingredients*. Pour the melted butter onto the dry ingredients and stir well to coat it all.

* Or crumbled digestives

2. Press the mixture firmly into the tin and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.

For the brownie

3. Preheat the oven to 160C / fan 140C / 325F / Gas 3.

4. Put the chocolate into a bain marie on a low heat. While it’s melting, put the butter, sugars and golden syrup into a large saucepan and gently melt. Stir well to make sure all the sugar dissolves.

5. Mash the ripe bananas and mix into the saucepan with the melted butter, sugar and golden syrup.

6. In another bowl, whisk the eggs until a little creamy and stir in the vanilla extract. Add this to the main mixture and beat until well combined. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate.

7. Sift over the flour and salt then fold in.

8. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth it if necessary. Bake for about 35 minutes. (It needs to be slightly wobbly when baked.)

9. Remove from the oven, and leave to cool. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour, overnight is better. (You may want to score it into pieces just before it has fully set.)

10. Turn out the slab and use a sharp knife or a metal dough scraper to cut it into pieces, or cut it while still in the tin and remove piece by piece. Attach a banana chip on top of each brownie – use a small “dab” of melted chocolate or golden syrup to “glue” them in place.