Banana Bread Blondies — a plant-based British recipe by BOSH!
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Banana Bread Blondies

These Banana Bread Blondies are genuinely one of the most requested things we make. The moment we brought them to a shoot, they were gone in about four minutes flat. You get all that cosy, comforting banana bread flavour but in a fudgy, chewy blondie bar that feels a bit more special. The peanut butter and maple syrup work together to give this incredible caramel-y depth, and the roasted almonds on top add this brilliant crunch that we are absolutely obsessed with. Honestly, if you've got a couple of ripe bananas sitting on the counter going brown, this is exactly what you should be making tonight.

Cook: 55 min
Serves 8

Before You Start

  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Large baking tray
  • 20cm square baking tin greased & lined with baking paper
  • 2x mixing bowls
  • Fork
  • Spatula
  • Small pan
  • Heatproof bowl
  • Potato masher

Ingredients

  • 125g almonds
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • 2 firm bananas
  • 150g peanut butter
  • 135g maple syrup
  • 90ml plant-based milk
  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250g plain flour
  • 80g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 125g dark chocolate
  • 1 tbsp soft brown sugar
  • sea salt

Method

1

Roast the almonds

  • Spread the almonds out over the baking tray, put the tray in the oven and bake the almonds for 8–10 minutes, until deeply golden 
  • Remove and set aside to cool
2

Make the batter

  • Put the ripe bananas in a mixing bowl and mash them with a fork
  • Add 100g of the peanut butter, the maple syrup, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract and stir until well combined
  • Combine the dry ingredients 
  • Pour the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and sea salt into a separate mixing bowl and combine with a fork 
  • Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold everything together to combine and form a smooth batter
3

Break the roasted almonds into small chunks 

  • Cut the chocolate into 5mm pieces 
  • Add 100g of the broken almonds and 100g of the chocolate chunks to the bowl and fold them into the batter 
  • Transfer to the baking tin and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon

Dollop the remaining peanut butter over the top of the cake

  • Sprinkle the remaining almonds over the top and lightly press them into the batter 
  • Peel the firm bananas, cut them in half lengthways and gently press the slices into the top of the cake, seed side up 
  • Sprinkle the brown sugar over the bananas 
  • Put the tin in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown on top
4

Melt the remaining chocolate 

  • Boil a kettle and pour enough water into a small pan until it’s 2cm deep 
  • Place a heatproof bowl over the pan and bring it to the boil, ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water 
  • Reduce to a simmer then break the remaining chocolate into the bowl and leave to melt (alternatively, melt in the microwave in 15-second bursts) 
  • Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cake 
  • Cut into 12 pieces and serve
5

Spread the thickened compote evenly over the base of the cooled tart

  • Pour the frangipane mixture over the top of the compote and smooth it out with a spatula or the back of a spoon 
  • Put the tart back in the oven and bake for 40–45 minutes, until the top of the tart is turning golden

Remove the tart from the oven 

  • Leave it to stand on a cooling rack for 30 minutes to firm up 
  • Then Carefully remove the tart from the tin  
  • Serve at room temperature in slices, finished with a dusting of icing sugar and a sprinkling of flaked almonds 
  • Top with BOSH! Quick Custard or dairy- free ice cream and a couple of sticks of Poached Rhubarb, if you like

Tips & Variations

  • Banana ripeness matters: The riper your bananas the better here. We're talking properly brown and spotty. If yours aren't quite there, pop them unpeeled in the oven at 180°C for 15 minutes and they'll soften right up.
  • Swap the nut butter: We love this with peanut butter but almond butter works brilliantly too, and gives a slightly more delicate flavour. If you're making these for someone with a nut allergy, sunflower seed butter is a solid swap.
  • Don't overbake them: These are meant to be fudgy and a little gooey in the middle. Pull them out when the edges look set but the centre still has a very slight wobble. They firm up loads as they cool, trust us on this one.

Why This Works

The trick here is using really ripe bananas. The spottier the better, because they're so much sweeter and give the blondies that proper moist, fudgy texture rather than something cakey. Roasting the almonds first is a step that's easy to skip, but please don't, because it brings out this deep, nutty flavour that makes the whole thing taste way more complex than the effort involved. The peanut butter does double duty too; it adds richness to the batter, and then that extra swirl on top gives you little pockets of salty-sweet magic in every bite.