Twice every week, I toss my reusable grocery totes into my car and drive across town to Trader Joe’s. After easing into a shady parking spot and grabbing a red shopping basket, I always head straight for the banana bin.
I spend at least two full minutes gently pawing through the fruit (yes, that long… and usually more than that!), searching for the biggest ones with the perfect shades of peel. Because I eat one every morning as part of breakfast, I always need a variety of colors. No use in buying a huge bunch that all ripen at the same time!
I snatch up a few bright yellow ones first, sweetly ripe and ready to peel, before looking for two or three with a faint greenish hue that will turn yellow in a couple of days. Finally, I finish with the lime green ones that require a week to ripen. Although I look hilarious circling the bin multiple times, almost like a lion stalking its prey, that method works like a charm!
Well… Except for the times where I get greedy and pick out an extra. At home, it turns spotty before I can finish the rest, so I normally bake a batch of banana bread or muffins and freeze half to nibble on later.
But this time, with our moving date rapidly approaching and our freezer off-limits, in desperate need of cleaning out (why do I hoard so many ice cream flavors??), I had to come up with something else: a treat slightly easier to give away than half a loaf of bread. After a little bit of thinking and a whole lot of indecision, I finally settled on a new dessert to try.
Barely half an hour later, I pulled these Peanut Butter Banana Bread Brownies out of the oven. With the fruity flavor of banana bread, the fudgy texture of brownies, and a ton of peanut butter drizzled on top, these sweet bars taste like pure comfort food. It can be our little secret that they’re skinny, vegan, and actually clean-eating!
These fun brownies are so simple to make, and you only need a few dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. We’ll add very little of the latter two. With such a small amount of baking powder, the bars barely rise, which results in the same fudgy texture as brownies. Yum!
After so many successful recipes in the past month—like brownies, muffins, and cake—I really wanted to keep going with my trend of gluten-free baked goodies. I created my own gluten-free flour blend for these with millet, brown rice, tapioca, and coconut flours, and the bars ended up with a silky smooth texture and flavor. But as always, whole wheat flour works too!
We’ll skip the egg in these healthy banana brownies and add extra mashed banana instead. (Yes, that means they’re actually vegan!) The extra mashed banana helps bind the bars together like the protein in eggs and gives them a bright natural flavor. With just a hint of additional sweetness from Stevia, these treats are seriously fruity and irresistible!
For the swirls on top, add a few tablespoons of peanut butter to a zip-topped bag, and heat that in the microwave for a few seconds. We just want it warm enough to pipe—not completely melted! Squeeze out the peanut butter into straight lines over the brownie batter, and carefully drag a toothpick through in perpendicular lines to achieve those fancy-looking “V” shapes.
Like regular brownies, we’ll bake these low and slow so the center cooks through without the edges turning crispy. Cool them all the way to room temperature in the pan, and let them set for as long as possible. I know it’s tempting to dig right in, but allowing them to rest longer really helps achieve the fudgiest texture possible—just like with my most popular brownie recipe!
After nearly consuming half the pan by myself in barely 24 hours, I sent off the rest of these Peanut Butter Banana Bread Brownies to my adorable little neighbors. I needed to focus on packing—not running a million extra miles to burn all of these off! The kids’ eyes lit up, and they immediately turned to their parents to ask if they could try one after dinner.
“They’re from Amy, so they’re healthy!” was their rationale.
Oops!
These sweet dessert bars taste like banana bread but have the fudgy texture of brownies—a fun & irresistible combination! Topped with a creamy peanut butter drizzle, they’re bound to disappear in seconds. Store any leftovers in an airtight container on the counter for 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 6 days.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat a 9”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the coconut oil, banana, and vanilla. Stir in the Stevia. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour, and stirring just until incorporated.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Add the peanut butter to a zip-topped bag, seal, and microwave on HIGH for 5-10 seconds, or until warm and slightly melted. Cut off one corner, and pipe in straight lines on top of the batter. Drag a toothpick through in perpendicular lines to achieve the “V” effect.
- Bake the brownies at 300°F for 19-22 minutes. Cool completely in the pan, and let the brownies rest for at least 2 hours at room temperature (or overnight, for the fudgiest texture) before slicing into squares.
Notes: For the gluten-free flour, I created my own blend using the following: ¾ cup millet flour, ¼ cup brown rice flour, ¼ cup tapioca flour, 4 teaspoons coconut flour, 1 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum.
Melted unsalted butter or margarine may be substituted in place of the coconut oil.
Feel free to use your favorite regular or no-calorie sweetener in place of the Stevia. You’ll need the equivalent of ¼ cup of granulated sugar.
Any milk (cow’s, soy, almond, coconut, etc.) may be substituted in place of the nonfat or rice milk.
Is the recipe correct in stating 4 taps of stevia? I thought 1 tsp stevia equalled 1 cup of sugar? I made this, using the 4 tsps stevia and the taste of the stevia overpowered everything!
Yes, the recipe is correct Amy, but not all Stevia has the same strength of sweetness. For the stevia I used (this one), 1 teaspoon of stevia is equivalent to 8 teaspoons of sugar, so 4 teaspoons of that stevia is the equivalent of ⅔ cup of sugar. I always link to the exact products that I use in my recipes, so I highly recommend double checking if something seems off when you’re reading through the recipe! Hopefully that clears things up and your next batch turns out better! 🙂
Oh! Well that makes more sense! Im just learning about stevia so I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. 🙂
My pleasure Amy! 🙂
Hi Amy!
For some reason my turned out way to dense! It was like chewing rubber tyres 🙁
I think it maybe because I’ve not added enough liquid?
Should the batter be pourable or very very hard to stir?
Mine just never rose 🙁
I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you Yana; that must have been disappointing. The batter is supposed to be thick, and the brownies only rise a little bit. If they didn’t rise at all, it could be that your baking powder has gone bad or expired. Also, it’s really important to measure the flour correctly, using either a kitchen scale or the spoon-and-level method (I describe that more here.) I’ve found that when I scoop the flour directly from the container with a measuring cup, I end up with 1.5 times as much as when I use either of those methods, which would definitely cause the problems that you saw. 🙂
Hi Amy! I found your site last year and it’s saving my life! I love desserts but need to lose weight and feel miserable when I try to avoid all sweets. I’d rather make your healthy versions and be happy! Thank you so much. Do you ever do tours in other cities? I’m in Chicago.
For this recipe, should I use unflavored coconut oil? Also, can I use maple syrup in place of stevia?
Thank you!
Kandice
Thank you so much for your sweet words, Kandice! That means so much to me! 🙂 Unflavored coconut oil is best. You can substitute ¼ cup of maple syrup in place of the stevia, and if doing so, you’ll need to omit the milk. The banana bread brownies may require a bit more time to bake. I can’t wait to hear what you think of them!
These are really good, but mine turned out more like bread than brownie. I did use maple syrup instead of stevia and skipped the milk like you said. Did I do something wrong? Still love it though!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these banana bread brownies Kandice! Unfortunately, using sweeteners other than stevia, including the maple syrup substitution, can change the texture of the brownies. It could also be that your brownies were overbaked. Try pulling them out 3-4 minutes earlier next time, and that might help! 🙂