Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bars

It was another gorgeous sunny morning here in the city - perfect for a walk! So I put my little munchkin in the  stroller and away we went to walk with Ben on his everyday route to work. That is probably one of the only things I'll miss about living here when we move...It's so nice to have his job just a 15 minute walk away! Walking with Landon at 5:30pm to pick him up from work has started to be an everyday routine for us now:) So I will make sure to enjoy it to the fullest while we have this privilege!


Another thing I LOVE so much is the 24 hour market we have up our street! I walked in today to pick up some fresh croissants and buns - they always have the best breads and pastries as well. I was putting them into the bags when I noticed they've started to carry banana bread! I asked the lady how much they were and I almost dropped it onto the floor when she said the price! 8.99 for a Banana bread loaf!!!! Are you kidding me???? Well...those exact words didn't actually come from my mouth. I just said "oh ok...thanks..." with a smile on my face as I put it back onto the shelf. As I was walking home I couldn't get that price out of my head! And..well...I wanted banana bread! So I thought to myself "forget paying 8.99 for one! I'm gonna try to throw one together quickly." :) So as soon as my little man went down for his nap I started looking through my recipe box for my banana bread recipe.

I actually came across something different I haven't tried before so I thought I would give it a whirl - and it turned out great! I know I've shared a few banana recipes with you before and I absolutely love them because there are so many variations and add-ins you can play with. You can mix in peanut butter, chocolate, caramel, oats, walnuts, nutella, berries...pretty much anything! You could also make it with yogurt or sour cream as well. This recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bars is pretty much all of the same ingredients as the Banana Muffins that I posted back in January...except this one calls for peanut butter and cocoa! And of course they are in a bar form instead of muffins.

 So if you'd like to give these a try then here are the ingredients you'll need:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 medium sized ripe bananas

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup cocoa

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

2. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined.

3. Mash bananas and blend them to the mixture.

4. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl; add to creamed mixture and beat well. 

5. Divide batter in half. Add cocoa to one half and beat well.

6. Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter to the batter and beat until well blended.

7. Spread into greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl with a knife.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the bars test done. 

I'm so happy that I chose to make these instead of buying that ridiculously expensive banana bread! I highly recommend baking up a batch of these for yourselves! I'm sure you're going to love them! :)