These soft, chewy granola bars are so loaded with banana flavors and a double-delight of chocolate, you would never guess they’re on the healthy side!
Can we talk about that one time Sarah went absolutely nuts-o crazy with the bananas? I believe it was a Wednesday a few weeks ago…
Yeah, well that particular Wednesday must have unknowingly to me, been National Banana Day in my head or something because I somehow managed to pump out four completely different recipes using all those overripe ‘nanners sitting on my counter.
I’m telling ‘ya. I was a MACHINE that afternoon. Those 15 overripe bananas were no match for Sarah The Banana-Ninja.
My mom questioned my sudden banana-fever, but I just said: trust me—this craze will pass soon and then we’ll have lots of face-stuffing business to take care of.
Not a bad deal….
Case-in-point. These pancakes, these smoothies, this banana bread, and last but not least, these granola bars today.
Are you worried about my sanity level yet? Nahhhh…it’s all good.
Now, shall we talk about the time that Sarah fell in love with a granola bar? That has to be my most finest moment in my whole food blogging career.
Yes, I’ve fallen in love with cookies, and brownies, and even brownies-in-cookie form; but granola bars? THEY’RE SKINNY-FIED AND HEALTHY, YO. So I can hang out and stuff my face with them every day if I want to!!
Like today for instance. Thursday is an eat-all-the-granola-bars-for-lunch kinda day so you’re all perky and energized for the weekend coming up pretty quick here.
They personally make me positively giddy as you can probably see by now…
And WOOT WOOT. You don’t even have to deal with all that granola-bar-guilt, since these little babies are not only the best dang granola bars on the planet, but they’re complete-and-total health food.
Hint, hint. Have two while you still can. They’re gonna vanish and they’re gonna vanish, *snaps fingers* just like that.
Okay, let’s get into the nitty-gritty deets about these granola bars. That should take all of about 10 seconds since these little guys are pretty much the basic of the basic.
You’re gonna need to grab your quick-cooking oats first off. I use quick-cooking oats in nearly ALL my granola bars, since this tends to produce a granola bar that is less tough, and break-your-tooth textur-ized, and more uber-soft and massage-your-teeth kinda chewy.
K, that was kinda weird…Moving right along here…
I found that I didn’t even need to add that much sweetener to these granola bars, since the overripe bananas lend plenty of sweetness. 1/4 cup coconut sugar and 1/4 cup honey combined with the naturally-sweet bananas is the perfect blend of sweetness in these bars. Not too sweet, but not bitter-chocolate-sweet either.
On top of this, be sure to grab your wheat bran (I loooooove this stuff!), cocoa powder, mashed bananas, (two of your biggest and ripest!) a pinch of salt, vanilla for flavor, an egg to hold everything together, and then as many chocolate chips as your chocolate-lovin’ heart desires.
Regarding that last chocolate-chip part, feel free to just DUMP. The more chocolate the merrier. ♥
From there, your bars are just baked until nice and golden. Then you’re gonna want to cool ’em completely before cutting into bars, otherwise well, melty chocolate will get all over the place, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, right?!
This is seriously it, guys! Healthy stuff doesn’t have to be complicated. Living proof right here.
Say ‘yo to your new favorite easy-peasy breakfast, or mid-day best friend, or workout energy-boost, or possibly even your healthiest-yet midnight snack.
You know it. 😀
Skinny Double-Chocolate Banana Granola Bars
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Ingredients
- 4 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1/4 cup wheat bran
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 ripe bananas mashed
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper and lightly grease. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, wheat bran, sugar, cocoa, and salt. In a separate large bowl, whisk mashed bananas, honey, egg, and vanilla.
- Pour liquid mixture over dry mixture and gently stir until just moistened and combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Evenly press mixture into prepared baking pan.
- Bake granola bars at 350F 30 minutes or until firm and edges start to brown. Cool granola bars in pan completely before removing and cutting into bars.
Notes
More granola bars? Um, always. 😉
No-Bake Chocolate Sunflower Seed Granola Bars — Running with Spoons
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel says
Overripe naners are THE BEST!! These granola bars look amazing, and they look like they stayed together so well– my pet peeve is crumbly homemade noler bars!
Sarah says
I can’t stand a crumbly granola bar either! These little guys definitely held their shape! 🙂