Recipe: Chocolate Workout Brownies

Image edited from here.

I found this recipe on the Chocolate Covered Katie blog when I was looking for recipes that included ripe bananas. I didn't want to make banana bread, muffins, or cookies; been there, done that.* I liked this recipe because it included bananas, chocolate, AND peanut butter, which is an amazing combination.

Ingredients

• 1 cup overripe mashed banana or applesauce
• 2/3 cup nut butter of choice, or allergy-friendly substitute
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp chocolate protein powder, or additional cocoa
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave, OR additional banana
• optional mini chocolate chips, crushed walnuts, etc.

Instructions

Notes: If using applesauce or unsweetened protein powder, or if planning to eat the brownies unfrosted, it is recommended to include a sweetener of choice. Using peanut butter gives a peanut-butter flavor, while almond or cashew butter taste more neutral. Sunbutter or pumpkin seed butter can be used for allergy-friendly brownies. You can use regular unsweetened cocoa or a combination of regular and dutch.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. If using natural nut butter, gently warm it until it is easily stir-able. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir until completely smooth, and spread into the prepared pan (see video). Bake on the center rack 20-25 minutes (20 for super fudgy brownies) – they will be undercooked when you take them out. Let cool, then loosely cover with a paper towel and place in the fridge overnight, during which time they will firm up without losing their fudginess. They are also much sweeter the next day! Frosting options are listed earlier in this post, and you need about 1/2 cup total. Once cut, the brownies can either be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to a month. You can even eat them straight out of the freezer if you wish! As mentioned, they are more of a healthy snack than a decadent dessert – if you enjoy healthy desserts and snacks, hopefully you will love these!

(I thought it was funny that the original recipe says it will yield 9-12 brownies. Yeah, however many you cut!)

I really liked this recipe. It's clearly very easy: just mix everything together in one bowl and you're done! I ended up using aluminum foil (which was fine), as well as two bananas and one individual serving of apple sauce. And I did add miniature chocolate chips; I already had them on hand, so why not? As usual, I eyeballed most of the ingredients. I probably didn't use exactly three tablespoons of protein powder and cocoa powder, and I simply didn't have enough vanilla extract, so that was that. And I didn't bother making a frosting for them: why add more steps?

*If you're interested in reading some of my other banana recipe blogs posts:

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Banana Coconut Muffins

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Strawberry Banana Sour Cream Breakfast Cake

Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

Monkey Nut Cookies