Chocolate Banana and Biscoff Graham Bars

I made these bars for Jenny for her Virtual Baby Shower. I wanted to make something that I knew used a few of her favorite ingredients.

Plus, I was looking at all the ripe bananas on my countertop here in Aruba and was wondering what I was going to do with them. If you think bananas ripen fast where you are, just c’mon down to the Equator and watch them literally ripen before your very eyes in a hot little kitchen.

I aim to please especially for pregnant ladies and ingredients that Jenny uses frequently, and which I incorporated into the bars, include:

Biscoff Spread – her Biscoff Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies are amazing and she has so many Biscoff recipes on her site

Bananas – her Chocolate Banana Bread with Marshmallow Bits is so moist

Graham Cracker Crumbs – Rolo Smores Monkey Bread anyone?

Chocolate – because every pregnant woman needs more of this in her life

After mashing that list together, these bars are what I came up with.

The top layer is a mixture of Biscoff spread and sweetened condensed milk and it thickens slightly and turns caramely, with oodles of gooey chocolate chips poking through.

The edges of the bars are just a tiny bit chewy from the graham crackers crumbs and the center stays tender and soft from the sweetened condensed milk, the Biscoff Spread, and the bananas.

While these baked, the smell of graham crackers, butter, chocolate and bananas wafting through the house was intoxicating.

Scott asked what on earth I was baking that smelled so good?

And I said, “Just something for a pregnant girl I know in Orange County.” He was utterly baffled.

The bars are a snap to make and here’s what to do:

Crush graham crackers either by hand or in the food processor until you have 1 cup, add 1 stick of melted butter, stir and press into a baking pan.

Add sliced bananas and chocolate chips.

And then flood it.

The flood is a mixture of one can of sweetened condensed milk and one-third cup Biscoff Spread. Best tasting flood-water ever.

Or if you’re in Aruba, it’s not technically Biscoff that I used, but rather Dutch cookie butter

I am 100% convinced it’s the exact same thing as Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread because the glass jars (minus the label of course), the type of cap, and the product inside is all identical.

In a side-by-side comparison the spread inside the TJ’s jars and the Dutch jars tastes and looks 100% identical.

I know Trader Joe’s private labels their products and in this case, they use the same supplier as the Dutch. Just a little food trivia for all the Biscoff and cookie butter fanatics.

While baking, the flood of sweet creaminess melts into the graham cracker layer, the bananas sweeten, and this is the result.

I hope you like these, Jenny!

We sure did and the pan was gone in a day.

[print_this]

Chocolate Banana and Biscoff Graham Bars

makes one 8-by-8-inch pan, about 9 squares

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted (half of one stick)

about 1 1/2 large ripe bananas, sliced into rounds

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup Biscoff Spread or Cookie Butter Spread (or creamy peanut butter)

Preheat oven to 325F, line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and stir to mix. Transfer mixture to prepared pan, spreading it evenly and using your fingers to pack it down. Add sliced bananas (about 1/8th-inch thick slices) over entire surface of graham crackers; likely needing 60 to 70 slices to cover the surface of the pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the bananas; set pan aside.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, Biscoff, and heat on high power for about 20 seconds, helping to soften the Biscoff, and stir to combine until mixture is uniform (if your Biscoff is already soft and can be stirred easily into the sweetened condensed milk, skip the microwaving step). Evenly pour the Biscoff-sweet milk mixture over the chocolate chips. Bake for 23 to 26 minutes, or until top is set and golden and edges have pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan; taking care not to overbake because the sweet milk and graham crackers will have a tendency to scorch nearing the completion of baking.

Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Optionally, garnish with whipped cream or whipped topping, or serve with a scoop of ice cream. Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. I prefer these chilled and keep them in the refrigerator.

To keep gluten-free, use gluten-free graham crackers and replace the cookie butter spread with peanut butter and add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

[/print_this]

 

Related Recipes:

 

Magic Eight Bars – made with a graham cracker crust and nearly identical to Seven Layer Bars or Hello Dolly Bars, tweaking the seven ingredients, and adding one more, for magic number eight

Coconut Peanut Butter Magic Cake Bars – one of my favorite desserts of 2012 and also uses the sweetened condensed milk flooding technique, with peanut butter rather than cookie butter

Cookie Butter Spread Ginger Molasses Cookies (No Bake, Vegan, with GF option)

Creamy Cookie Butter White Chocolate Banana Smoothie

No-Bake Peanut Butter Biscoff Cookie Dough Bites (Vegan, almost GF with easy adaptation) – Made with peanut butter + Biscoff cookies or make them with Biscoff + Biscoff Cookies

Cookie Butter Funfetti Triple Chip Bars – sweetened condensed milk and cookie butter at it again, so gooey and great – I loved these