Brown Butter Banana Nutella Bars

Sometimes, when I get the urge to bake, I start pulling ingredients out of my pantry and hope for the best.  And I mean, when those ingredients start with butter, bananas and Nutella, how can things go wrong?  Well apparently they can go wrong, but we'll get to that later.  It was cold and rainy yesterday (Happy Spring?) and when I run out of ways to entertain my kids inside, I always turn to baking.  Come on, kids!  Let's learn about math via measuring things and science via, uh, how baking works and, and... just kidding, here, lick dough off of a spatula.  

Everything was going just great with the measuring and the licking of yummy (OMG yummy) spatulas until the bars came out of the oven and sat for a bit and then turned into, well, bowls.  They completely sank.  If we ARE going to talk about the science of how baking works, I think I over-mixed the batter.  My son has so much fun with the KitchenAid Mixer, and I think I let him have TOO much fun.  Next time I won't use it at all - I will simply whisk and stir the ingredients together.

Problems aside, these, were, DELICIOUS.  Again, you really can't go wrong with brown butter, banana and Nutella.  Oh, and sea salt sprinkled on top because why not.  And, if yours DO end up like bowls, just simply pour in some milk (or ice cream) and turn them into these.    

Brown Butter Banana Nutella Bars

Makes 12 bars

Printable Recipe

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup brown sugar

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

About 1/2 cup Nutella

Flaky sea salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat until browned and foamy (butter will smell nutty when done, be careful not to burn).  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, stir together cooled butter and brown sugar until just combined.  Add mashed banana, egg and vanilla and again, stir just until combined.  Add dry ingredients and, you guessed it, stir just until combined.

I used a bar pan but if you don't have one, use an 8x8 baking dish.  Spray or grease.  Pour batter into pan or drop by large spoonful into bar pan.  If using baking dish, add Nutella in dollops and swirl with a knife.  If using bar pan, add approx. 1 tsp to each bar and then swirl with knife.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 10-12 minutes if using bar pan or 20-25 if using baking dish.   

      

Bowls...