Banana chocolate brownie with caramelized coconut top recipe

Banana chocolate brownie with caramelized coconut topping

Chocolate, banana and coconut go well together, maybe because all these ingredients are grown in tropical climates. This logic does not necessarily apply in all cases but its certainly true for this brownie.

The brownie has 3 layers, it may seem complex but the recipe is actually really simple. I preferred to keep the layers separate to have a more distinct chocolate, coconut and banana flavour. And a brownie with three layers looks nicer too! If you want to make the recipe even simpler you can mix it all together.

Notes:

- My suggestion for the topping produces a result which is much crispier. I’ve noticed that some recipes suggest adding butter to coconut and sugar. This could produce a texture which is slightly less crispier. I preferred without butter since there is already enough butter in the brownie, however I was not entirely 100% satisfied with the texture. I will work on it more so please consider the caramelised coconut topping recipe as a work in progress. 

- there are two distinct layers in the brownie. However I was not very careful when pouring the second batter over the first batter, hence the reason you see uneven layers. The banana layer is not very noticable, it has been 'overpowered' by the chocolate layer

Ingredients

100 ml flour

100 grams melted butter or oil

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon (20ml) cocoa powder

¼ cup mashed banana

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

For the coconut topping (to be updated)

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

1/3 cup sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 175 degrees

2. Mix butter/oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract

3. Add flour, mix well and divide the batter into halves

4. Add mashed banana to one half of the batter, mix well and place in a baking tin

5. Add cocoa powder to the other half of the batter, mix well and pour the batter evenly on top of the banana batter

6. Mix coconut and sugar and sprinkle on top of the batter

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. To caramelize the sugar, place under a hot broiler for a few minutes or use a blow torch (to be updated).

Ajvar (pepper eggplant spread) recipe

Ajvar

Ajvar is a relish/spread from the Balkans. Authentic ajvar is made from fire roasted red bell peppers (capsicum, paprika), eggplant and a few other ingredients. Ajvar is sort of like tomato sauce/ketchup, but much more. You can use it in place of tomato sauce/ketchup such as with burgers and sausages. You can also use it in ways that you may not normally use tomato sauce/ketchup like as a spread on bread or crackers. Once you taste ajvar there is a risk that you will not go back to tomato sauce/ketchup again. However I am definitely not trying to discourage use of tomato sauce/ketchup.

The world can work in mysterious ways sometimes. I’ve always bought ajvar from the supermarket, it is widely available in Sweden due to a relatively large Balkans community. My friends from Balkans never inspired me to make avjar, instead pings pickings from Malaysia inspired me. And ping got inspiration from me, from my jarred ajvar. Bit of a circular reference here, it probably proves that the world is round!

Ajvar is really simple to make. In a nutshell you roast the vegetables and mix with other ingredients. I’ve checked a number of recipes as well as the list of ingredients on an ajvar jar. Most of the recipes do not use tomatoes but tomato puree is included in the jarred ajvar. It has about 3% puree. Also very few recipes use onions. I’ve decided to use tomato puree and not onions. I will try onions next time.

Ajvar is mildly hot. You can add chillis to suit your taste. 

Ajvar

Ingredients

2 large eggplants

6 large red bell peppers

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

½ cup oil

Juice of 1 lemon or 3 tablespoon of vinegar

Salt and black pepper

2-3 tablespoons tomato puree (optional, I used cooked puree)

Chili - finely chopped or minced (optional)

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400F/200C

2. Wash and dry eggplants and peppers. Half the eggplant and bell peppers lengthwise. Discard seeds from the peppers

3. Place eggplant and peppers on a baking tray cut side down and roast until the skins blister and turn black, about 30-45 minutes. 

4. Place eggplant and peppers in a heatproof bowl, cover and set aside for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove and discard the skins and mash or chop eggplant and peppers

6. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Ajvar is ready to rock and roll

7. It will keep in a refrigerator for up to 1 week. The taste will develop. I usually freeze in ice cube trays

Swedish Brownies (Kladdkaka) Recipe

Kladdkaka / Swedish Brownie

Sometimes it happens that we buy chocolate to use in baking but when the time comes for baking we cannot find the chocolate. Chocolates have a tendency to vanish mysteriously, and never reappear again! It is times like this when recipes such as the one below come in very handy. This recipe does not require chocolate, just cocoa powder, but the result is just as good. Cocoa, butter and sugar substitute quite well for chocolate.

With such recipes you can buy your chocolate, 'make' it disappear and use cocoa powder to make brownies. Its likely that no one will notice the difference.

I checked many recipes for kladdkaka and none of them use chocolate. So it seems that it is normal for chocolates to mysteriously disappear in Sweden, hence such recipes are developed. 

Kladdkaka translates into sticky or gooey cake. It is a gooey moist chocolate cake, essentially a brownie. 

The brownie in the photos are not as gooey as you may expect. I baked the brownie for 20 minutes instead of 15 minutes. If you prefer a more gooey brownie bake for 15 minutes. 

I found the recipe on the side of a box of cocoa powder. 

Kladdkaka / Swedish Brownie