Ingredient: pecan halves or pieces

Caramel Pecan Banana Brownies

Posted on by Mari Vasseur

If you love the flavors of chocolate and bananas together, these Caramel Pecan Banana Brownies are for you! These rich, fudgy brownies are the perfect decadent chocolate-banana dessert. The addition of caramel, pecans and sea salt gives them texture and balance. This recipe was a challenge to create because, while adding bananas to a brownie recipe does add moisture, it can also give the brownies a cake-like texture. That’s desirable in banana bread, but for brownies, most of us love a traditional fudgy texture. I solved that issue and I’m excited to share this fudgy, gooey Banana Brownie recipe with you!

These brownies are on the sweeter side, so I like adding dark chocolate chips or a combination of dark and semisweet chocolate chips. Adding the nuts to the top of the batter, rather than stirring them in, gives them a toasty flavor and helps maintain their crunch. An optional sprinkle of flaky sea salt adds the perfect finishing touch. They’re TDF served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Caramel Pecan Banana Brownies

Fudgy banana brownies with chocolate chips, topped with pecans, caramel and sea salt
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, cubed
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) avocado oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup (125g) mashed very ripe bananas about 1 medium banana
  • ½ cup (65g) all purpose flour
  • 1 cup (170g) dark or semisweet chocolate chips or a combination of both
  • ½ cup (55g) pecan halves or pieces
  • Caramel sauce, purchased or homemade
  • Flaky sea salt optional but recommended

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a couple of inches of overhang.
  • In a medium-size light-colored saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook until it's deep golden and fragrant. When brown specks start to appear, remove it from the heat and immediately transfer the butter with the brown specks to a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, oil and salt until well combined.
  • Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until creamy and well blended and most of the brown sugar is dissolved. Mix in the cocoa powder and cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Stir in the mashed bananas. Mix in the flour, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Arrange the pecan halves on top of the batter or if you're using pecan pieces, sprinkle them evenly on top of the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 20-25 minutes. (If you hit a melted chocolate chip with the toothpick, test again in a different spot.) Do not over bake!
  • Let the brownies cool in the pan. Remove the cooled brownies from the pan and drizzle with caramel sauce. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired.
Keyword brownies, caramel pecan banana

Maple Pecan Brownies

Posted on by Mari Vasseur
maple pecan brownies

Pecan pie was my mom’s favorite, but she didn’t bake pies, so I always used to bake her one for Thanksgiving. One year, I made a chocolate version. It was delicious, but let’s just say it wasn’t user friendly. It was gooey and hard to serve. Over the years, it eventually morphed into these Maple Pecan Brownies. The brownie version is still delicious, rich and gooey with toasty pecans, but much more user friendly.

Enjoying Maple Pecan Brownies with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee is a must. Thinking of it brings back memories. I can practically smell my dad brewing the coffee to go with these brownies.

Maple Pecan Brownies

Rich, gooey brownies topped with pecan pie filling
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Servings 16 brownies

Ingredients
  

Brownies

  • ¾ cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (5 1/4 ounces) brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup (2 1/4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted preferably Dutch process cocoa
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ cups (5 5/8 ounces) flour

Pecan Topping

  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup (3 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon maple extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups (7 ounces) pecan halves or pieces

Instructions
 

Brownies

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, overlapping the sides an inch or two. Spray parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl, stir together melted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined.
  • Mix in eggs and vanilla, one at a time, until well combined.
  • Mix in cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
  • Stir in flour just until combined.
  • Spread batter into prepared baking pan. Bake just until top is set, about 25 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, prepare pecan topping.
  • When brownie top is set, remove from oven. Gently pour pecan topping around the outer perimeter of brownies, to avoid making brownies sink in the middle. Evenly distribute the pecan topping over the top gently with a spoon.
  • Return the brownies to the oven and continue baking until the topping is set, about 20-25 minutes. Brownies will stop jiggling and topping will look deep golden brown. Toothpick inserted inside will have a few moist crumbs on it. (If your topping starts to brown too much on the edges before the inside is done, apply aluminum foil around the edges as you would with a pie.)
  • Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting, about 2- 2 1/2 hours.
  • Cut into squares, wiping knife between cuts.

Pecan Topping

  • In a medium bowl, stir together maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, egg, maple extract and salt until well combined.
  • Stir in pecans until well coated with maple syrup mixture.
  • Set aside until brownies are partially baked.
Keyword brownies, chocolate, maple pecan