Banana

Banana, Coconut, Chocolate Chip Snack Bars

by:
June 13, 2013
4.7
9 Ratings
Banana, Coconut, Chocolate Chip Snack Bars
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 55 minutes
  • Serves 15
Author Notes

Melissa Clark's Chocolate Crusted Banana Blondies (originally seen on notderbypie) were the source of my inspiration. In Melissa's version, the butter is browned and the banana mixture is poured over a chocolate cookie and butter crust. I wasn't crazy about the cookie crust idea and I happened to be out of butter. But overripe bananas were calling, so I decided it was time to venture off on my own. I used coconut oil instead of butter, added chocolate chips, and 2 handfuls of coconut to continue the coconut theme. I decreased the sugar slightly and increased the salt by a pinch. The result is truly delicious. Who doesn't need another way to use overripe bananas? (Note: This is a sweet recipe!) —ATG117

Test Kitchen Notes

We make our home in Phoenix, AZ, but spend the summer in a little 600-square foot cottage in Sonoma, CA. We make car trips between Phoenix and Sonoma a couple of times a year with three furry "children" in tow. We look for snacks that carry well, can be eaten (in the car) without too many crumbs, and require little refrigeration. This snack cake fits the bill! Moist, delicious and crumb-free, I can easily imagine it as a favorite "go-to" snack for travel. —Betsy Hinson

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
  • 2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 10 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (plus more for sprinkling)
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 handfuls shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
Directions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Mash bananas in a bowl and push them to one side to make room for the "liquid" ingredients. Add the eggs, dark brown sugar, vanilla, and coconut oil.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet banana mixture. Stir with a whisk just until combined.
  4. Add the chocolate chips and coconut. Stir one last time to evenly distribute the add-ins.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle (from a height) with fine or flaky sea salt to lightly dust the surface of the cake.
  6. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes (mine was done after 45 minutes), or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
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  • daisybrain
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89 Reviews

Linden
Linden July 20, 2020
I had this recipe laying around but did not know it was 52. I knew straight away 2c sugar was too much (for me) so I reduced to 1.5 c. brown sugar on my first bake. Delish. but can't imagine even more sugar---still too sweet (for me) Next time I'll reduce overall sugar to just 1 cup. 45 minutes--perfect.
 
daisybrain
daisybrain June 28, 2020
I didn’t read the reviews before I made these and might have lessened the sugar. As is though they are delicious and cut pretty small they’re a tidy treat. I will make them again and might add some walnuts or pecans. Maldon sea salt sprinkled on top.
 
Kathy
Kathy April 29, 2020
Tried this for the first time tonight, and these are DANGEROUSLY good! I've already frozen some so I'm not tempted to eat my husband's treats. Made as indicated, and I might try less sugar next time for healthiness, and add some nuts. As it is, they are wonderful.
 
jstew52
jstew52 March 15, 2020
Tasty. Used 1 C sugar (packed) and threw in a handful of chopped walnuts. Baked in 9x9 square pan (whole recipe, not halved) and they still were on what I sould consider the thinnish side. 45 mins prob a few mins too long.
 
K.V.
K.V. March 11, 2020
This is divine. It usually takes me at least a day after making something to like it but not so with this recipe. In my haste to get started, I overlooked the notes about reducing the sugar. And even though I used very ripe bananas, this didn't result in an overly sweet cake. The only substitution I made was using half canola and half coconut oil because I ran out of the latter. Looking forward to experimenting with other substitutions over time as this is surely going into rotation.
 
Noelle B.
Noelle B. May 31, 2019
This one’s a keeper!
I took heed from the comments and removed 3/4 cup of sugar, they are perfect!! Also used mini chips because that's Just what I had around. Thank you for this perfect recipe!
 
krikri
krikri August 22, 2017
I also halved the brown sugar, had too little coconut oil left so topped it up with butter - total about 9Tbsp, but I'm not sure because some of it was leftover filling from hardlikearmour's Danish Kringle! There were almonds in the filling so I added more, a third banana, chocolate, and toasted coconut. Sounds kitchen-sink-ish but we liked it! The result was very moist, partly due to the 3rd banana, but certainly not too sweet. In fact I was inspired by Jenny's mention of glaze and poured a bit on top when serving (also leftover from the Kringle)! I'll obviously never repeat my serendipitous version but would make it again!
 
erin
erin February 5, 2017
Like most commenters, I halved the sugar. I also replaced the suggested 10tbs of coconut oil with 4tbs oil and 4tbs yoghurt, as I felt 8tbs total liquid would be plenty (it was). Note these changes were made not because of sugar- or fat-phobia but just because two cups of sugar would be too sweet for my taste, and I like the texture yoghurt gives. Lacking the right-sized pan, I divided the mixture into a regular-sized muffin tray (greased and floured, not lined) and wound up with 12 good-sized mini-cakes. Eating the first one now and it's absurdly good.
 
Alice
Alice March 26, 2017
Hi Erin, I went with your version and made 4 "testers" something seems to be wrong with mine I wonder if you can help identify what it is, the only difference is that I used about a fifth of the original recipe's sugar and added about 3 tablespoons of maple syrup ( I ran out of dark brown sugar ), the mix was really liquid is that normal? Then I baked them for about 35 mins which was too long as they burned slightly and also stuck to the cupcake papers. 😕
 
Alice
Alice March 26, 2017
I just tried another test round this time without the cupcake papers but in a greased/buttered and floured cupcake tin as you did and also filled almost to the top and I baked them for 25mins on a lower heat. They are absurdly good! 😃
 
erin
erin March 26, 2017
I was just about to reply saying skip the liners and bake for less time! I'm so glad it worked - I was feeling guilty! Glad you enjoyed.
 
Alice
Alice March 29, 2017
oh no I knew it was something I had done wrong and just needed your expertise to show me 😅 Would you happen to have a similar recipe in a carrot cake style?
 
erin
erin March 29, 2017
I'm by no means an expert, just lucky with my fiddling in this instance. I do have an extremely reliable carrot cake recipe adapted from an allrecipes one. Not as dense as these, but tender and not overly sweet. Beat 1 cup sugar (I use muscavado) with two eggs. Beat in 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1/3 cup plain yoghurt and a few drops of vanilla essence. Stir in 1 cup flour (up to 1/2 cup of this can be wholewheat) with 1 tsp each baking soda and baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and generous sprinkles of your favorite ground spices - I go heavy on cinnamon, ginger, cardamon and nutmeg. Finally stir in two cups of coarsely grated carrots (about two medium carrots) and a handful of chopped walnuts and/or golden raisins. Bake as muffins or a cake, medium oven.
 
Alice
Alice March 30, 2017
Lovely, that sounds like my kind of carrot cake 😋 I can imagine the wholewheat addition and spices must make for a lovely warming flavour. Thank you very much Erin I'm going to try it today. I would like to try it with coconut oil and maple syrup though, just to try to keep on the slightly healthier side of cakes 😅
 
Sera L.
Sera L. October 13, 2016
Ditto on the sugar - 2 cups totally unnecessary. 1 cup is perfectly fine and is plenty sweet. I added toasted almonds and also put it in a 9x9 pan...thanks to the reviewer who suggested that :-)
 
HalfPint
HalfPint August 8, 2016
Made these with the changes suggested in other comments: 1/2 the brown sugar, 1/2 cup (8TBs) coconut oil. It's lovely. Not too sweet. Deliciously moist. I added chopped dates and dark chocolate chips. I also put all the batter in a 9x9 pan since others were saying that it was rather thin and cooked really quickly. It took ~55 minutes to bake. There isn't any leavening in this, so I didn't expect or get any sort of a rise. Still really scrumptious. I found this easier to make and far more interesting than banana bread.
 
Jaclyn D.
Jaclyn D. July 27, 2016
I want to try making these this weekend. Any suggestions for making them GF?
 
Amelia G.
Amelia G. February 18, 2016
I just made these and mine came out completely flat! Is that normal?
 
Lfilly
Lfilly October 21, 2022
They are supposed to be like a bar
 
jenny
jenny January 26, 2016
These are delicious! My coconut oil was liquid in the jar and I used 100ml. Next time I would cut down on sugar as they really were very sweet. I decorated mine a little with a glaze and some toasted & shredded coconut. Yummy recipe, thanks :-)
 
Ida-Maria S.
Ida-Maria S. September 26, 2015
I absolutely love these. I cut down a bit on the sugar and the oil, as others have suggested. The one thing that confuses is the baking time. Mine are always done after 20-25 minutes...
 
Mallory
Mallory June 30, 2015
These are amazing! They've turned out great every time I've made them. Except for the time I dropped the whole pan on the floor. That wasn't great. A couple times, I had to substitute granulated white sugar due to a lack of brown sugar, but they were still delicious.
 
lizykat
lizykat June 6, 2015
Made this today. LOVED IT!! I made it w/o changes however I printed this 3-2014 and now I see slight change to brown sugar and coconut oil amounts. I was wondering if anyone else had sub'd part of the AP flour for WW pastry.. I will make again with corrected amounts b4 changing anything else. Kinda hard to comment on a recipe if I change too much of the original. My only issue was I didn't cook it long enough, but I love me a dense slightly soggy cake anyway...:}
 
A L.
A L. May 22, 2015
I have always melted the coconut oil before measuring, unless the recipe author says not to do so.
 
ATG117
ATG117 June 11, 2015
The coconut oil was measured from a solid state, which is how mine keeps at room temperature.
 
Debbie
Debbie May 22, 2015
I am new to cooking with coconut oil, so I am not sure if I am supposed to melt it first to use in this recipe. Looking forward to your response, I can't wait to make this cake.
 
ATG117
ATG117 June 11, 2015
It should be measured in a solid state, not melted. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Heather P.
Heather P. March 22, 2015
has anyone converted this recipe for weight measurement? if yes, I'd love to have it. thanks!!!
 
A L.
A L. March 2, 2015
So, if you're trying this recipe for the first time, you might want to read the comments. I didn't. I just looked at the recipe and decided to make half in an 8x8. I also generally reduce the oil and sugar in recipes and use a mix of flours plus some ground golden flaxseed to make things healthier. So, just as a reminder, my changes are for half a batch in an 8x8 pan: I reduced the coconut oil (4T rather than 5T). I used 3 oz brown sugar (rather than a full 1/2 C). I used 1 1/4 oz mix of AP and White whole wheat and 1/2T+ of ground flax seed. Because I wanted more of a snack cake, I added 1/4 tsp baking powder. The result was a very thin cake-like cookie. If I were to do this again, and I might, I would go ahead and double the ingredients and use the 8x8 pan. I didn't realize it was going to be so thin. The author does say that these are based from a Blondie recipe and so one should expect them to be more like a cookie. However, I think the addition of the baking powder gave it a cake-like texture. So, that's what I'd recommend to anyone who wants more of a snake cake.