The Simple Vegan

Banana Peanut Butter Brownies

If you’ve read my previous posts you know I love peanut butter. I’m not sure what’s better than peanut butter with bananas, except maybe peanut butter and chocolate. And then there’s bananas and chocolate. Bananas and peanut butter and chocolate. This might be too much to handle.

Chocolate-Banana Brownie Batter:

1 1/2 c sugar
1 banana, mashed up
2 T water
1 T flax plus 1/2 c water
2 t vanilla extract
1 c flour
1 c cocoa
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended)

Peanut Butter Swirl:

2 T peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 T agave nectar (to reduce sugar increase water to 2T instead)
1 T water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix the sugar, banana and 2 T water together in a large bowl. Add flax mixture and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into a greased 9x9 pan.

Stir together all the ingredients for the peanut butter swirl. Drop spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture onto the brownie batter in random places. Use your spoon or a knife and run it up and down all over the batter. You can create whatever pattern you want.

Bake for 35-40 min. The longer you bake it, the more cakey your brownies will be.

If you want a lower-fat brownie skip the peanut butter swirl. The fat in the brownies comes from the flax, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that our bodies need to obtain from food sources because we can’t convert them on our own. Fish is the most popular source of omega fatty acids, and that’s why flax is such an important ingredient in vegan cooking!