Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

Do you ever experience buying bananas and you just can't finish them all and you end up with browned bananas? Many of my friends freak out when they see their bananas go brown and most of them just throw them away which makes me want to cringe... you want to know why? Well, it's because browned bananas are absolutely perfect for baking! So basically the browning of the banana means that it's ripped; therefore the sugar content of the bananas increase so less sugar but you can still enjoy the natural sweetness of the bananas (:
And what screams perfection with a combination of bananas and chocolate - it is absolutely heavenly!

Servings: 16 bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 2/3 cup sugar 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 ripe bananas (mashed) 
• 1 egg 
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Instructions: 

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. 
• In a large bowl, beat soy milk, vegetable oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. Followed by bananas and egg. 
• In about 2-3 increments, beat in the flour mixture and stir. 
• Pour the batter in the baking sheet (I used a typical brownie baking pan) 
• Bake for about 20-30 minutes or use the wooden pick method: by inserting the pick in the center of the batter, and when it comes out clean, you're good to go! 
• Cool completely and cut the bars and enjoy! 

At first I was a little bit worried that this will be similar to a banana bread, but to be honest, it was a lot more ooey-gooey than a banana bread which I really liked about! Whenever I bake, I am usually pretty good at controlling how much I eat but this one was definitely the kind of baked goods that I need to put it away because I can eat all 16 bars... no joke!

I would recommend eating this dessert with a cup of black coffee - the sweetness of the banana and the chocolate complements the bitterness of the black coffee :)

With that being said, from my kitchen to yours, Happy Baking!

Smiles,
Mei