I love having fresh fruit on-hand as a snack. There are two types of fruit I always have in the house: bananas and honey-crisp apples. Unfortunately, sometimes I am not as efficient at snacking on the bananas and we all know what that leads to… the overly ripe banana…boo
Have no fear. I am always thinking of creative ways to put those brown, mushy, not-so-appetizing bananas to use. Everyone makes the standard banana bread, but I have really fallen in love with bars lately. I decided to recreate the traditional banana bread in breakfast bar form. Oh yeah, things just got a little more interesting.
Since I love oatmeal for breakfast (or any time of the day really), I knew I wanted the bars to have the taste and texture of oatmeal, but still have the consistency of bread. Therefore, I decided to incorporate a mixture of whole wheat flour and oatmeal. Cinnamon is a great spice to add to oatmeal, bananas, and chocolate. I AM NOT afraid of leaning heavily on cinnamon when I bake. I love the aroma and taste it provides. Honestly, these bars are healthy, nutritious, and adapt well to whatever other ingredients you want to throw in (nuts, coconut, dried fruit). They even taste like dessert.
I had one after dinner last night and one for breakfast after today’s morning work out. These Chocolate Chip Banana Breakfast Bars are a perfect treat any time of the day.
As always,
Bon Appeteek
Recipe heavily adapted from Ambitious Kitchen’s Healthy Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Oat Breakfast Bars
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Servings: 16 bars
The Players:
Wet Ingredients
4 ripe bananas
1/4 C sugar-free applesauce
1/4 C agave syrup or honey (I used a mixture of the two)
1 t vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/4 C oatmeal (quick oats)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1/2 C chocolate chips (I used dark)
The Rules:
- Preheat oven to 350 F and spray a 9 x 9 -inch baking pan with cooking spray (I used coconut oil cooking spray).
- Combine the dry ingredients, excluding chocolate chips, in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Place wet ingredients in standing mixer or combine using a hand-mixer, until smooth and creamy.
- Add dry ingredient mixture slowly and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and spread evenly with spatula. Bake for 25 minutes or until tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and then cut into 16 bars. Enjoy warm or store in an airtight container for snacking.
Making this on a chilly Sunday afternoon- the house smells like cinnamon (like you I never accurately measure the delicious spice)!! I’ve added one apple that, after a busy week and weekend away, has started to soften and about a cup of chopped walnuts. This is a great recipe that allows you to use up fruit (of which you had the best intention to devour during the week) and partial bags of nuts, raisins, coconut flakes, etc. I also like the natural sweetness from the fruit and honey/agave – not 2 c of added sugar! The +/- of the chocolate chips can makes it an indulgent breakfast bar and shows the recipe’s versatility. Yum! Thanks- this is sure to make Mondays more manageable & late nights nicer!
Kelsy, I love the idea of adding apples to the oatmeal bars! Thank you for sharing. This is a recipe that is flexible with what you have on hand for fruit or in your pantry :)