Banana Toffee Blondies

I know..I know..blondies aren’t strictly a brownie.

My dad was a banana addict. He was born in 1917 and grew up during those hard years which culminated in WW2. As you can imagine, living in a rural area in Michigan he didn’t have many bananas. Well he made up for it when he became an adult. The man had at least one banana every day of his life that I can remember and passed his banana infatuation on to his grandchildren, who can make a case of bananas disappear in one day.

These are excellent. I used a recipe from That’s My Home and made a few small changes. I am not totally happy with the texture, to me it is too cakey for what I am looking for. Next time I am going to leave out the leavening and see what happens- if I get a chewier result. In any case these disappeared rapidly.

Use ripe but firm bananas in this. You don’t want the overripe mush that is perfect for good banana bread. The banana needs to be deliciously ripe yet still hold it’s shape in a small dice.

1-1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. baking powder (I am going to omit this next time for a chewier brownie)
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c unsalted butter

1-3/4 C. packed brown sugar
1 tbs. vanilla
3 eggs
1-1/4 C.Heath toffee bits or 6 chopped heath bars
1-1/4 C chopped pecans
1 C. finely diced banana (1/4-inch cubes)
1/2 c milk chocolate chips for drizzling.
Line a 13×9″ pan with parchment or waxed paper. Grease and flour paper and sides of pan.
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla. Beat in eggs briefly, one at a time, until blended.

Add flour mixture a little at a time, beating on low speed just until blended. By hand, stir in 1 cup toffee bits, 1 c pecans, and banana.

Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350° F. for 30 minutes .

Make Praline Glaze:

melt 1/4 c unsalted butter in a sauce pan and stir in 1/4 c brown sugar, whisking until it loses it’s graininess and thickens. Spread over Blondies, then sprinkle top with remaining 1/4 c toffee bits and 1′4 c chopped pecans. Melt 1/2 c milk chocolate chips and drizzle over all.