Banana Blondies with Whipped Salted Caramel

a recipe for bananas that isn't just another banana bread!

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Hi everyone!

As so often happens, I ended up with a bunch of bananas going black. The freezer was already full of overripe bananas, and I couldn’t bring myself to bake yet another loaf of banana bread; I don’t need the flashback to covid lockdown baking, thank you very much. So what on earth was I supposed to do with them? I could have made a banana cream pie or maybe some banana jam, but I wanted something pretty quick, something I could throw together, something that packed a lot of flavour. I ended up settling on making a batch of banana blondies, which are really easy to make and taste absolutely fantastic. Thankfully I had a big bunch of bananas because this took a few batches to get right. The first batch had great flavour, but the texture was too gooey (is that even a thing), the second was way too cakey, and just like Goldilocks, the third batch was just right. The blondies are really dense and chewy, with a surprisingly strong banana flavour; surprising mainly because there isn’t a huge amount in the recipe, and I thought it could easily have been overpowered by the other ingredients.

But once the blondies were done, and even though they tasted great, they looked a little…boring. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a flavour comes first type of person, and I think some of the best foods in the world are beige and rather boring looking, but I wanted something a little extra, another element to really make these a wow situation. That's when I remembered the technique of whipped caramel. The perfect topping for these blondies, you make a salted caramel, chill it and then whip it until it becomes light and almost like a buttercream-type texture. If you love caramel, this is a technique you really need to make. The whipped caramel isn’t light like a caramel-flavoured cream, and it’s not dense and sticky like a classic caramel; its somewhere in the middle, perfect for topping blondies and brownies it would also work wonderfully as a filling for tarts or even cakes. To finish the blondies, I added some crunchy banana chips for added texture and a little flaked sea salt for nice pops of flavour.

Whipped Salted Caramel

150g caster sugar

200ml double cream

15g unsalted butter

Pinch of flaked sea salt

Add the sugar to a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Add the cream to a separate small saucepan and place over medium heat. Once the cream has come to a simmer, you can turn off the hob. For the sugar, you want to cook it until it is fully melted and caramelised to a dark brown colour; think of the colour of an old penny. When making caramel, you can make a wet caramel, where the sugar is dissolved in water, or a dry caramel, where only the sugar is added to the pan. I would recommend making a dry caramel because it is less prone to crystallisation, and you can stir it gently to encourage even melting. When the caramel is a nice dark brown colour, add the butter and salt and swirl to combine. Carefully pour in half of the cream; the cream will bubble up like a volcano, so be careful and allow the bubbling to subside before pouring in the rest. Because you warmed up the cream before adding it to the melted sugar, you should have a smooth caramel sauce, if not, turn the heat to low and stir until smooth. Pour the smooth caramel into a small jar or container and set aside for 30 minutes before transferring to the fridge.

Because we want to whip the caramel, we need it to be chilled, but we also need to prevent the caramel from becoming too firm, making it impossible to stir or whip. To achieve this, the caramel should be refrigerated for about 3-4 hours. At this stage, the caramel will be cold but still spoonable and not one solid lump of caramel.

Scrape the caramel into a large bowl and, using an electric hand mixer, whisk on medium/high speed until the caramel turns light and pale and is holding soft peaks. It won't be as light as whipped cream or meringue, but it should be thick enough that it can hold its own shape. If the caramel whips but feels loose, it needed a little longer in the fridge. To rectify this, you can pop the bowl back in the fridge for 30 minutes before whisking again briefly, it should be a thicker, more spreadable consistency. Use the whipped caramel immediately. Once spread onto something or used as a filling, it can be refrigerated to firm up a little.

Banana Blondies

Makes 12

150g very ripe banana (weighed without the skin)

200g light brown sugar

150g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

225g unsalted butter, diced

1 large egg

250g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

To Decorate

1 batch whipped salted caramel

Crunchy banana chips

Flaked sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Lightly grease a 9x13 brownie pan and line it with a large piece of parchment paper which overhangs the two long sides of the pan. Secure the parchment in place with a couple metal binder clips.

In a large bowl, add the banana and mash with a fork. Add the sugars and vanilla and mix until fully combined.

Add the butter to a small saucepan and place over medium heat and cook the butter until browned. Once melted, the butter will start to bubble and splutter. Once the spluttering has subsided, the butter will foam, and this is the stage at which you want to keep a close eye on the butter, looking for little brown flecks, an indicator that the butter is browned. Pour the butter into the banana mixture and mix. Add the egg and mix until the batter is smooth and evenly mixed. Finally, add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until a smooth batter is formed. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it into an even layer.

Bake the blondies for 30 minutes or until golden brown and the edges are just starting to come away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 30 minutes before transferring to the fridge to cool for a few hours. The benefit of this chilling stage is twofold, it makes the blondies a little more dense, and it firms them up, making it easier to remove them from the pan.

Use the parchment paper to lift the blondies from the pan. At this stage, I like to peel away the original piece of parchment and transfer the blondies to a fresh piece; this is simply because they can stick to the original parchment, and once the caramel is added, it can be tricky to remove them from that parchment.

Remove the caramel from the fridge and whip as per the instructions above, and then spread it all over the blondies. Finish with a scattering of banana chips and a little extra flaked sea salt. Chill for an hour, and then use a sharp knife to cut into pieces.