Pecan and Banana Blondies

Lovely texture and taste – very rich, very “gooey” – the challenge is to only eat one.

Makes: 16 – 20 pieces

Time: About an hour + cooling time

Difficulty: Easy

Equipment: A 23cm square baking tin

Ingredients

  • 125g unsalted butter or Stork or a mixture
  • 250g white chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 185g plain flour
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 2 – 3 eggs, beaten
  • 185g light brown caster sugar
  • tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 – 3 ripe bananas
  • 125g pecan halves (chop some, reserve others for decoration. *See note below)

    • Method

    Prep: Grease and line a 23cm square baking tray. Turn oven on to heat up to 180C/fan 160C/Gas 4.

    1. In a bain marie, or very carefully in a micro-wave, melt all the butter/Stork with about half of the chocolate. Set aside to cool.

    2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate large bowl and mix.

    3. Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla then stir into the cooled chocolate/butter mixture.  Add to the dry ingredients and slowly whisk or stir well to combine.

    4. Peel and mash the bananas until smooth (see tip – below) and fold them into the mixture along with half the pecans* and the remaining chopped chocolate pieces. (* If you intend having a pecan on each piece, make sure you reserve the number you will need.)

    5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Level the top and bang it down to release any air bubbles. Scatter (or carefully arrange) the remaining pecans over the top.

    6. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden and just firm to the touch. (The longer they are left in the oven, the less “gooey” they’ll be.)

    7. Leave to cool for 5 – 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Use a hot knife to cut into pieces

    Tip: If your bananas are quite hard, they can be softened in the micro-wave. Use a fork to stab holes along the skins then give the bananas a series of 15 – 20 second blasts on full power until they soften. Take care when peeling as the inside will be very hot.)

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