My mums group meets once a week for coffee in one of our houses, on rotation. Clearly that means there is a mild, unspoken baking competition going on every week. Baking something with a little monkey around is a bit of a challenge, but these two recipes were fairly simple to knock out once they're in bed.
I wanted something different, less utilitarian than your average banana bread. I love banana bread, but I wanted something cakier, sweeter, more like a treat and less like I-have-three-blackening-bananas-on-my-counter. Of course, that was also the case, but you know. I highly recommend the Banana Bars from My Baking Addiction blog, with the cream cheese icing. In the photo, you can see one piece with sugared rose petals on top and one with hundreds and thousands.
The brownies are truly an easy bake from the always-reliable Smitten Kitchen - super fast and requiring practically nothing you probably don't already have in your kitchen. Helpfully using cocoa and no actual chocolate, you can make this in one bowl. I've made them twice, once in a non-stick bakeware and once in a bendy silicone 'dish'. The silicone doesn't transfer enough heat to totally cook the middle, so I won't do that again. It still worked though.
The mums preferred the Banana Bars - as you can see!
