Banana-Brownies - Lo-Cal

Banana brownies are the lighter cousin of fudge brownies, built around a clever swap: mashed ripe banana stands in for the half-pound of butter most brownie recipes call for. The fruit’s natural pectin gives you that dense, fudgy mouthfeel without the fat, and the cocoa does the heavy chocolate work without melted bars.

Nonfat dry milk powder is the sneaky ingredient here. It boosts the protein and gives the crumb body that fat-free baked goods usually lack, and it’s why these don’t bake into a sad rubber square.

Buttermilk and egg whites lock in moisture and provide just enough lift. The recipe runs through a food processor, which fully purees the banana so you don’t get stringy bits in the finished brownie.

Use fully blackened bananas. Underripe ones taste starchy in a fat-free batter and the chocolate can’t hide it.

Kitchen Tips

• Don’t overbake. These finish faster than full-fat brownies and they keep cooking on the hot pan after coming out. Pull when a toothpick has just a few moist crumbs.
• Cool fully in the pan before cutting. They’re delicate when warm and fall apart along the edges.
• Drizzle warm chocolate sauce only at serving time. Sauce on storage brownies makes the tops gummy.
• Sub in dark cocoa for regular cocoa powder for a deeper, almost black-as-night brownie color.

Variations

• Add 2 tablespoons espresso powder to the dry mix for a mocha banana brownie.
• Stir in mini chocolate chips for pockets of melt.
• Swap white sugar for coconut sugar to add caramel notes.