Name: Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 16
Ingredients: 1/2 c. butter, softened; 1 c. brown sugar, packed; 1 egg; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 c. all purpose flour; 1 c. mashed ripe bananas; 3/4 c. mini chocolate chips

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Chocolate Chip Banana Bars are a cross between banana bread and chocolate chip blondies with a gooey, fudgy flavor that can’t be beat!

I don’t know about you but I can only eat so much banana bread but I hate to waste bananas. We always buy bunches of 5 or 6 bananas and usually we eat most of them. Whenever we don’t I make banana bread.

Lately we’ve been having 2 or 3 bananas left and I hate to just pitch them so I’ve been looking for other banana recipes because one can only eat so much banana bread. I’ve made some yummy banana cookies but I wanted something else.

I started looking for recipes with bananas and chocolate because I wanted something rich and sweet. When I found these Chocolate Chip Banana Bars I was sold on them. They looked gooey and delicious.

Ingredients:

butter (I like using salted because this recipe is pretty sweet)
brown sugar (you can use light or dark brown sugar)
egg
vanilla extract
salt
all purpose flour
bananas (make sure they are overripe and very soft)
mini chocolate chips (you can use regular size but I like the mini because they disperse throughout the bars better)

I wasn’t sure whether to expect these bars to be more like a blondie or more like banana bread but I figured either way I was going to eat them.

Making the batter was super easy. It was similar to making cookies as you mixed the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, and then combined them together.

I used mini chocolate chips so that they would be distributed better throughout the cookies but you can use regular chocolate chips.

How can I ripen bananas?

One way to do this is to place them in a small paper bag overnight. Fold the bag over and leave on the counter over night.

How can I ripen bananas quickly?

If you don’t have time to wait overnight for your bananas to ripen you can ripen them in the oven. Place the bananas, in their peel, on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Bake the bananas for 30-40 minutes or until they have blackened and are soft to the touch. Cool completely before peeling and mashing.

How do you store the Chocolate Chip Banana Bars?

Store the bars in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. I would recommend putting parchment paper between the layers because they will stick to each other.

Can you make these gluten free?

Yes! Substitute gluten free flour for the all purpose flour. Mix well and let the batter sit for 30 minutes before baking for best results.

I baked the cookie bars and took them out of the oven. They rose quiet a bit and were pretty tall. I’m not sure if this is because of the bananas or the egg but I was happy with them.

We had a hard time waiting for them to cool so we let them get warm before trying them. They had a really nice texture that was similar to a soft blondie.

More Banana Recipes:

While I could taste a bit of the banana the chocolate chip was the prominent flavor in the bars. They were soft, a little chewy, and really good.

I took some in to work and they were gone before lunch which doesn’t happen often. They are a little bit healthier than traditional chocolate chip cookie bars so I think people were telling themselves that so that they could have one as a mid-morning snack.

I really enjoyed them and will be putting them in my ripe banana rotation as an alternative to banana bread.

If you’ve tried my Chocolate Chip Banana Bars or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on: