MONKEY BARS

These monkey bars are a delicious banana dish recipe that is dense like a brownie but as tasty as homemade banana bread. Banana bars with chocolate chips in every bite -you’re in for a sweet snack.

These banana bars are a pretty healthy treat that can be made even healthier with a few simple substitutions. With apple sauce instead of oil, you add fiber and remove some fat from this monkey bars recipe. You can even halve the chocolate chips to reduce the sugars like I do sometimes. You can make your monkey squares as healthy or as rich as you want, they’ll taste great either way!

 

Making This Monkey Bars Dessert

If you want to make these banana bars then I recommend using really ripe bananas for this recipe. They are naturally sweet and much easier to mash, not only that but it’s a great way to use them up after they’ve started spotting and no one wants to eat them!

The monkey squares are a little soft when finished, like a gooey brownie from the oven, so cutting them can be a little difficult because the monkey bars might want to stick to the sides of your knife. I recommend freezing them uncut for a few minutes so that they can be cut with cleaner lines, but this is totally optional.

What If I Don’t Have Enough Bananas?

If you don’t have enough bananas to make this recipe, you can use what bananas you do have on hand and fill the rest of the measure with pureed pumpkin. If you don’t have any bananas on hand at all, you can make this recipe using pumpkin puree instead of bananas and it will still turn out great!

 

Can I Make These Monkey Bars Dairy Free?

Absolutely! You can make this recipe dairy free really easily too! Just swap out the milk for a dairy free alternative like Almond milk and use dairy free chocolate chips.

Healthy Monkey Bars Ingredients

-1 2/3 cups mashed, ripe bananas {about 5 bananas}

-3/4 cup packed brown sugar

-1/4 cup oil

-1/4 cup milk

-2 large eggs

-1 tsp baking soda

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

-1 cup mini chocolate chips

-1-2 TBSP ground flax

 

How to Make Healthy Monkey Bars

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 15×10.5″ pan with foil and then spray it with non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients except for the flour and the chocolate chips. Gradually add in the flour until just blended. Mix in half of the chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and then sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a wooden toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out clean.

Cool the pan completely before cutting into monkey squares.

With dense brownie-like healthy banana squares and chocolate chips in every bite, you’re going to love this sweet treat. These monkey bars are a simple banana dessert that you can feel good about eating.