Banana Maple Brownies

I love brownies, but I don't make them very often because I would likely devour the entire pan of chocolatey goodness by myself. On the odd occasion when I do make brownies, I like adding healthy ingredients to them so at least I'm getting some nutritional value when I stuff my face with them.

This particular time, I wanted to bake a treat to bring with us on our RV trip. Just to be clear, I am not a camper. Our neighbours happened to be getting a new RV and were selling their old one. When the boys found out about this, they were so excited that they brought their piggy banks out to pay for it. Lucky for them, Tony was just as excited and has a somewhat larger piggy bank, so the RV is now ours. I didn't quite share their level of enthusiasm, but I figured it was much better than camping in a tent. Plus, I think going on family RV trips will be something the kids will remember fondly when they're older.

Anyway, I made these banana brownies for our overnight trip across the border to Point Roberts. Although we were only gone a short time, the brownies didn't make it back. We ate all of them! The bananas make them so moist, and I love the hint of maple from the syrup. There's a lot of cocoa in them too, so they're super chocolatey. Even though it's getting a little too cold for RVing now, but I'm sure I'll find another excuse to make these brownies again soon.

Banana Maple Brownies

Adapted from Alida's Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Combine flours, flax seed, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl.
• In another mixing bowl, mix together mashed bananas, milk, oil, maple syrup and vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir gently just until combined.
• Pour batter evenly into a greased 9 x 12" baking dish.
• Sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 24 squares

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