The Peanut Butter Boy: The Peanut Butter Brownies Experiment

I've heard several rumors circulating the internet about "healthy" brownies. Several sources that I discovered claim that you can buy a standard brownie mix from the store, ignore the required ingredients (oil, eggs, etc..) and simply add a can of pureed black beans. Everyone seems to say they cannot tell the difference and apparently even children who are clueless to the contents love them. Either way, store-bought brownie mix contains heavily processed flour and sugar which certainly aren't good for you, although I will have to try this at some point (perhaps with the No Pudge brownie mix).

The brownies before your eyes are a different kind of experiment. Back when I was looking up peanut butter cookie recipes and making my Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies, I discovered an obscure comment from "Anonymous" who claimed that the simple addition of an extra egg, mashed banana and cocoa powder would yield delicious brownies. I was intrigued, but the exact quantities were a little vague. I followed them as best I could and lo and behold, a form of flourless brownies was born.

Now, these brownies are a bit different and definitely need fixing. I decided to post my results and see if anyone has suggestions for my next batch or wants to experiment on their own. I see great potential here but I am not an experienced baker and don't feel like wasting 47 bananas and 28 jars of peanut butter to figure these out =).

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

Test Recipe (Changes Needed):

1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1t vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix peanut butter, honey, banana, eggs and vanilla in a bowl. Add cocoa powder and mix well.

2. Pour batter into an ungreased 9x9 baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Results:

1. The brownies came out too "eggy" and had a sponge-like texture
2. The flavor of chocolate was not very pronounced.
3. They were sweet enough.
4. The brownies got better with time. After letting them sit in a tupperware for a few hours, they got very moist and the egg flavor/sponge texture started to disappear. They were even better the next day (but still not wonderful).

I think the 2 eggs were necessary for rising and baking, but other additions are needed. From my limited baking experience, I suggest the following:

Increase cocoa powder to 1/2 cup.
Add a second mashed banana.
Add 1/2 cup light yogurt.

Maybe these additions well keep the brownie dense to begin with while keeping it moist? Perhaps I need some flour (1/3 - 1/2 cup)? Any thoughts/suggestions?

Labels: banana, chocolate, dessert, peanut butter