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.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cup 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
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 15x10.5" pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
- Whisk all ingredients except for the flour and chocolate chips. Gradually add in flour until just blended. Mix in half the chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle remaining chips on top. Bake 15-20 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool completely. I've even stuck the entire pan into the freezer so that they'd cut cleaner! Once cool, cut into squares.
- If you're preparing these for school lunches, I suggest bagging them individually and freezing them like that. If you freeze prior to cutting, the chocolate on top doesn't make a mess in the baggie.
Notes
- oil* can be substituted with applesauce.
- milk** can use powdered milk.
- eggs*** can use powdered eggs.
Can You Freeze Monkey Bars?
Yes! They freeze so well that they can be a great addition to the kid’s lunchbox. I recommend cutting the squares, bagging them individually and then freezing them.
Would Other Types of Chocolate Chips Work Well?
Absolutely! If you have dark chocolate or even white chocolate, these monkey squares would taste great with any type of chocolate chip (or you can omit it altogether if you wanted).
If you liked these Monkey Bars, you’re going to love these banana recipes.
- Caramel Banana Tiramisu
- Glazed Blueberry Banana Bars
- Easy Banana Bread
- Banana Split Milkshakes
- Banana Split Pie
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
- Banana Kid Snacks
- Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
- Nutella Banana Muffins
- Caramel Banana Nut Bread
- Banana Cream Cheesecakes
- Banana Cream Cookies
- Tropical Banana Sparklers
- Cranberry Banana Bread
- Banana Cream Pie Muddy Buddies
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