Chocolate chip banana bars

Chocolate chip banana bars are soft and moist banana bars with a thick, chewy blondie-like texture and sweet chocolate chips inside. These buttery banana chocolate chip bars are a great alternative to banana bread. They’re quick and easy to make.

Why You Should Make This Recipe

Banana bread (or any kind of it) is just so warm and inviting. I really like the recipes for Brown Butter Banana Bread, Nutella Banana Bread, Banana Mug Cake, and Banana Mini Muffins. These banana bars with chocolate chips are no different. This recipe is for you if you like banana desserts that are soft and moist.

• Simple pantry ingredients: You only need a few basic things from your pantry to make a batch of quick, easy, soft, and chewy banana chocolate bars.
• You love banana bread with a twist. These buttery banana bar cookies taste like a mix of blondies and banana bread.

Equipment

• 1 8×8 (20 cm) metal pan
• 1 sheet parchment paper
• 3 mixing bowls
• 1 whisk and flexible spatula or spoon

Things you need

Before I show you how to make banana and chocolate chip bars, make sure you have these easy-to-find ingredients on hand.

Get your flour, baking powder, and salt together for the dry ingredients.
Collect your butter, light brown sugar, an egg, ripe bananas, vanilla extract, and regular or mini chocolate chips for the wet ingredients.

• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (120 g) of all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
• ¾ cup (128 g) mini chocolate chips, divided

How To Do

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Line an 8×8 (20 cm) pan with parchment paper along the bottom and two sides.
2. Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Put the butter in the microwave for one minute to melt it. If you need to, heat the butter again for 15 seconds after stirring. Cool the melted butter for 10 – 15 minutes or until warm, but not hot. Set aside for now.
   ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
3. In another mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
   1 cup (120 g) all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk in the cooled butter with the light brown sugar until well combined. Mix in the egg, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract until everything is smooth and well mixed. The mixture might look a little bit curdled. That’s totally fine! Once the dry ingredients are mixed in the batter will become smoother.
   ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, 1 large egg, room temperature, 1 cup mashed bananas, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. I like to do this with about half of the dry ingredients at once. Add the mini chocolate chips and mix them in. Before baking, set aside some to put on top of the banana bars.
   ¾ cup (128 g) mini chocolate chips, divided

6. Smooth the banana batter into the prepared pan. Use a flexible spatula to spread the blonde brownie batter evenly over the pan. If you want, you can add more mini chocolate chips on top.
7. Bake the chocolate chip banana bars for about 30 – 35 minutes or until the sides of the chocolate chip blondies are firm and the center is baked through. A toothpick inserted into the center of the banana blondie bars should come out clean or with a few crumbs.
8. Cool the buttery banana chocolate bars in the pan to room temperature. Once the bars are completely cooled, use the excess sides of parchment paper to gently lift the banana dessert from the pan, slice and enjoy!

Changes

If you need them, here are some changes I suggest to make this recipe for buttery banana blondie bars.

• To make this recipe gluten-free, use a good 1-1 gluten-free flour or oat flour instead of all-purpose flour. Change the amount of flour based on weight instead of cups. This banana dessert bar has 120 grams of flour in it.
• Baking Powder: What can you use instead of baking powder? 1 teaspoon of baking soda. The blondie bars will have a different texture, but they will still taste great.
• You can use either salted butter or vegan or plant-based butter in the same amount.
• Light Brown Sugar: This recipe for chocolate chip banana bread bars calls for light brown sugar, but maple sugar would work just as well to make it free of refined sugar.
• Mashed Banana: The bananas should be fully ripe and have some brown spots on them.
• Egg: This recipe hasn’t been tried without an egg.
• Vanilla Extract: This provides an essential background flavor that pairs perfectly with the banana, light brown sugar and chocolate chips. If you don’t have vanilla extract, you can use vanilla bean paste.
• You can use any chips or chocolate chunks you want for semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Different kinds

• Mix-Ins: You can add 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped nuts, like pecans, walnuts, or hazelnuts.
• 9 x 13 pan: To make enough banana chocolate chip bars for a lot of people, double the recipe. Add 5 more minutes to the baking time, or until a toothpick stuck into the buttery banana and chocolate chip batter comes out with a few moist crumbs but no smear.

M’s Expert Tips

• Cool the melted butter. When you melt the butter, it makes these banana bars feel like blondie cookies. Before you use the melted butter in the recipe, make sure it is at room temperature or a little warm to the touch.
• Use bananas that are ripe. Ripe bananas have more flavor and are sweeter, not to mention so much easier to mash than unrippen ones. A ripened bananas will be soft and have lots of brown spots on the outside. Basically, bananas that are perfect for banana bread are perfect for banana bars with chocolate chips.
• Bring chilled ingredients to room temperature. This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in deliciously brown sugar blondie bars.
• Look for the signs the bars are done. Use the baking time as a guide rather than a strict rule. Signs the banana bars are finished baking is a light golden brown, firm, set edges that have slightly pulled away from the edge of the pan and a fully baked center.
• Cool the bars in the pan. These banana chocolate chip bars need time to fully cool before coming out of the pan. Cool the pan on top of a cooling rack until the pan and banana bread bars are room temperature.

How to Keep, Freeze, and Thaw

• Store: Put the banana chocolate chip bars in a container that won’t let air in. Store at room temperature for up to 3 -4 days. If you would like to store them for longer, I recommend transferring them to the fridge for up to a week or to the freezer for up to one month.
• Freeze: Make sure the chewy banana bread bars with chocolate chips are completely cooled to room temperature. Place the banana squares in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 1 month.
• The best and easiest way to thaw the chocolate chip banana bars is to leave them out at room temperature until they are completely thawed.

Notes

Store: Place the banana chocolate chip bars in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 3 -4 days. If you would like to store them for longer, I recommend transferring them to the fridge for up to a week or to the freezer for up to one month.