On a recent visit to Trader Joe's I purchased a bag of freeze-dried bananas for no particular reason. It was still sitting on the kitchen counter when I realized that the bag contained the exact quantity of bananas required for Irvin Lin's recipe for "Banana Crunch Beer Brownies" from Marbled, Swirled, and Layered. These brownies call for Guinness beer in the batter and in the ganache frosting, and conveniently enough, I had some on hand that was left over from our office St. Patrick's Day party.
The recipe includes a "banana crunch" component that is very much like a Christina Tosi "crumb" or "crunch." In particular, it seemed to me like a cross between Tosi's milk crumb and cornflake crunch, with freeze-dried banana powder added. The banana crunch is a mixture of powdered milk, lightly crushed cornflakes, flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and melted butter that has been toasted in the oven and then mixed with powdered freeze-dried bananas and drizzled with melted white chocolate. The mixture forms small clusters.
To make the brownie batter you beat eggs, a mashed banana, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, baking powder, and vanilla; add a mixture of browned butter, melted semisweet chocolate, natural cocoa, salt, and Guinness stout; mix in flour; and incorporate semisweet chocolate chunks (I used Cacao Barry 64% Guayaquil pistoles) and half of the banana crunch. The recipe instructs you to "Pour the batter into [a] lined baking pan and spread evenly. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes." These directions gave me pause. There is no explanation in the recipe itself or in the headnote of why the foil is necessary. I have baked hundreds of pans of brownies and I have never encountered a recipe that required covering the pan with foil for the entire baking time; covering a pan with foil prevents browning. But I pushed aside my doubts and covered the pan loosely with foil before putting it in the oven.
Thirty-five minutes later I pulled the pan out of the oven and removed the foil to take a look. It was horrifying. The outer perimeter of the brownies looked cooked, but the vast majority of the bars were obviously undercooked and looked like chocolate pudding. To make matters worse, a lot of air bubbles had risen to the surface of the bars such that the top of the brownie was scarred with unsightly craters. I put the brownies back in the oven and kept checking on them periodically; after a total baking time of an hour I decided that they were done.
The brownies are topped with a beer ganache made by melting chocolate with butter and adding heavy cream and Guinness. I spread the ganache over the cooled brownies, sprinkled on the remaining banana crunch, and added a little sea salt.
I was really nervous how these were going to taste because I wasn't sure if the whole "cover with foil" thing was just a colossal mistake. (I did email Irvin Lin to ask about the reason for the foil, but he never responded.) At least the ganache completely covered up the hideous craters. When I cut the brownies I noticed that all of the chocolate pistoles had sunk to the bottom and the banana crunch was not clearly visible inside of the bars. But to my relief, these brownies were very chocolate-y and very tasty. The texture was unusual -- very fudgy without being dense. I was afraid that the ganache would have a strong beer flavor (since the Guinness in the ganache is not cooked out), but it wasn't boozy at all. I was disappointed that the banana flavor was not as strong as I would have liked in either the brownie itself or the crunch topping. And I wished the banana crunch had been crunchier.
I thought these brownies were good but my tasters thought they were great. One colleague told me that these were the best brownies I've ever made and another responded with an "OMG." I'm very curious to see how these would turn out if they were baked without the foil. If I ever find myself with some freeze-dried bananas, a ripe fresh banana, and a bottle of Guinness on hand, I'll give them another try.
Recipe: "Banana Crunch Beer Brownies" from Marbled, Swirled, and Layered by Irvin Lin, recipe available here from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Previous Posts:
The recipe includes a "banana crunch" component that is very much like a Christina Tosi "crumb" or "crunch." In particular, it seemed to me like a cross between Tosi's milk crumb and cornflake crunch, with freeze-dried banana powder added. The banana crunch is a mixture of powdered milk, lightly crushed cornflakes, flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and melted butter that has been toasted in the oven and then mixed with powdered freeze-dried bananas and drizzled with melted white chocolate. The mixture forms small clusters.
To make the brownie batter you beat eggs, a mashed banana, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, baking powder, and vanilla; add a mixture of browned butter, melted semisweet chocolate, natural cocoa, salt, and Guinness stout; mix in flour; and incorporate semisweet chocolate chunks (I used Cacao Barry 64% Guayaquil pistoles) and half of the banana crunch. The recipe instructs you to "Pour the batter into [a] lined baking pan and spread evenly. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes." These directions gave me pause. There is no explanation in the recipe itself or in the headnote of why the foil is necessary. I have baked hundreds of pans of brownies and I have never encountered a recipe that required covering the pan with foil for the entire baking time; covering a pan with foil prevents browning. But I pushed aside my doubts and covered the pan loosely with foil before putting it in the oven.
The brownies are topped with a beer ganache made by melting chocolate with butter and adding heavy cream and Guinness. I spread the ganache over the cooled brownies, sprinkled on the remaining banana crunch, and added a little sea salt.
I was really nervous how these were going to taste because I wasn't sure if the whole "cover with foil" thing was just a colossal mistake. (I did email Irvin Lin to ask about the reason for the foil, but he never responded.) At least the ganache completely covered up the hideous craters. When I cut the brownies I noticed that all of the chocolate pistoles had sunk to the bottom and the banana crunch was not clearly visible inside of the bars. But to my relief, these brownies were very chocolate-y and very tasty. The texture was unusual -- very fudgy without being dense. I was afraid that the ganache would have a strong beer flavor (since the Guinness in the ganache is not cooked out), but it wasn't boozy at all. I was disappointed that the banana flavor was not as strong as I would have liked in either the brownie itself or the crunch topping. And I wished the banana crunch had been crunchier.
I thought these brownies were good but my tasters thought they were great. One colleague told me that these were the best brownies I've ever made and another responded with an "OMG." I'm very curious to see how these would turn out if they were baked without the foil. If I ever find myself with some freeze-dried bananas, a ripe fresh banana, and a bottle of Guinness on hand, I'll give them another try.
Recipe: "Banana Crunch Beer Brownies" from Marbled, Swirled, and Layered by Irvin Lin, recipe available here from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Previous Posts:
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: St. Patrick's Drunk Bundt Cake," March 13, 2016.
- "Nabisco Should Take Note: Black Chocolate Stout Cake with Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Buttercream," February 27, 2016.
- "The Cake Couldn't Hold It Together: Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting," November 20, 2014.
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