Banana Bread Brownies topped w/ Chocolate Peanut Butter

I saw these on Six Sisters' Stuff last month & knew EXACTLY what I was going to do with my leftover bananas next time I had them. With our banana loving little dudeman this doesn't happen often.

I followed the link at the bottom of their post to Cookies and Cups to see the original post where they found the recipe. They looked even more delicious and it just confirmed that I needed to try these out. Plus, I had just discovered another site with great recipes for sweet stuff. Definitely a win. I'm so glad I checked it out!

So I tried it out and of course it didn't look NEARLY as appetizing as either of the other two. I kind of expected that though since I am terrible at taking pictures of food and nothing I make ever looks like it does in the pictures. I must have mushed the bananas into too much of a paste and stirred it too much since I saw no banana chunks. It tasted wonderful but was incredibly dense.

I also felt like it was missing something...

I've been on a chocolate peanut butter kick lately, so I thought I'd try making a chocolate peanut butter sauce to pour on top of it.

It was exactly what was needed! They now looked more appetizing than the funky thing that came out of the oven AND my taste-buds were satisfied. My only complaint is that I wish they weren't so dense...

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup chocolate chips

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

Topping:

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350. 

- Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray, set aside. 

- Combine butter and chocolate chips in a medium saucepan. Melt together over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When melted, set aside to cool.

- Combine the mashed bananas, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in beaten eggs until evenly incorporated.

- Stir in flour and salt until just combined.

- Pour all but 1/4 cup melted chocolate into the banana mixture and stir.

- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Drizzle remaining 1/4 cup melted chocolate on top, and swirl it into the batter.

- Bake 25-30 minutes until the center is set and a toothpick comes out clean.

- Once cooled, melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips & 1/4 cup peanut butter together, then spread on top of the brownies. 

- Cool completely and cut into squares.

Notes:

- Brownies will be very dense

- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I guessed the amounts for the topping since I had eyeballed the amount that I put on top. I had already had a few pieces before I spread it on, so I wouldn't have been able to give an accurate amount anyway. Hopefully my estimates will be right...