BANANA BROWNIES WITH CHOCO SEA SALT

I did not realize taking classes and working fulltime would turn me into a zombie. If you’ve been there, you must understand what I mean. When I first signed up for classes, I was so excited and ready to jump in, regardless the ‘advisor’ had brought up the issue of having tons of research and mount ful of homework. Work itself is quite demanding and sometimes it requires me to travel. Just like last Thursday when I had to work from our branch office. It took me 2.5 hours to get there, well that’s because I used public transportation (bart, caltrain, bus, and car), however it’s much easier since I could beat the carpool lane. I ended up spent about 6 hours on the road. Long story short, I did conquer East Bay, South Bay, and downtown SF in one day and took me 17 hours (work plus school). I literally collapsed by the time I reached home and wished for fairy god masseuse to appear. But, I guess it’s all paid off since that same Thursday, I received my award – more like ‘employee of the year’. I was surprised when they called out my name during the meeting, along with one other guy, to receive this award.

During those quiet time on the train, I decided to read some magazines I brought from home. I’ve been neglecting those magazines since Summer, so it’s time to catch up on some articles and I spotted so many awesome recipes. I was so inspired to make brownies since I’ve never tried this before – and it’s just a perfect excuse to celebrate my awesomeness achievement, right? Originally, I was about to add melted rolo on top. Who doesn’t love rolo? Too bad, I burnt all of them, hence I had to change to plan B, but I still love it!

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups pretzel
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1½ cups packed brown sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ripe banana
• Baking spray

Topping:

• ¾ cup dark cooking chocolate chips
• 1-2 tbs oil/ butter
• Sea salt

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse the pretzel pieces until finely ground. Set 2 tbs of pretzel on a small bowl, and set aside.
2. Combine the remaining pretzel with flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a mixer, combine the melted butter and brown sugar.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix well.
6. Add ripe banana to the mixture, and mix well.
7. Light spray the muffin pan (I use mini cupcake pan) with baking spray. Scoop the batter in the pan, scatter the remaining pretzel on top. Bake in the preheat oven at 350° for 15 minutes, then broil for another 2-3 minutes, until the crust on top are lightly brown. Let cool.
8. For the topping: On a double boiler, fill bottom of double boiler with water and place on low heat. Place chocolate chips in the top of double boiler over hot water and let it melt. Do not cover. When most of the chocolate is shiny, stir until smooth, then remove. Mix with butter or cooking oil to make it drippy.
9. Once it is smooth, drizzle the melted chocolate on top of brownies and sprinkle with sea salt.

Adapted: Food network Magazine

Tags: baking, banana, brownies, chocolate, sea salt