These Peach Jelly-Filled banana Bread bars are dense and rich like a fudgy brownie. There’s nothing airy, cakey, or light about them. They’re melt-in-your-mouth, jelly-filled, drippy-glazed comfort-food at it’s finest.
The batter for the bars is fast and easy to make. Multiple ingredients are combined at once, in one bowl, are are whisked together. Begin by melting one stick of butter, add an egg, sugars, peach yogurt, and vanilla extract. I chose a peach theme for this recipe, both the yogurt and jelly used are peach. But if pineapple, mango, strawberry, or a mix-and-match combination of various yogurt and jelly flavors is what you have or prefer, go with that. Virtually any fruity combination will work with bananas. They’re such a great canvas.
Fold in mashed bananas, flour, baking soda, and one packet of dry instant vanilla pudding mix to the batter. Pudding mix has a high amount of cornstarch in it, and my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for cornstarch. The cookies are soft, tender, and moist; and the cornstarch in the pudding mix does the same thing for these bars, rendering them fall-apart soft. Plus, the vanilla pudding adds an extra layer of vanilla flavor and I can never get enough vanilla.
Turn out the batter into a 9-by-9-inch pan, and although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure making this as a 10- or 12-cup Bundt cake would work well. Lightly smooth the surface of the batter and add about fifteen teaspoons of jelly, or about one-third of a cup. Dollop little blobs of jelly onto the surface in a random pattern, evenly dispersing the mounds, until the surface is well-covered in sweet, sticky jelly.
Marble and swirl the jelly with a table knife, going up and back, zig-zagging around. It doesn’t matter if the swirls are visually neat and pretty because as the bars bake, they turn a rich and golden amber hue, and the swirly pattern isn’t discernible. The jelly is for taste, and to lend moisture to the bars, rather than for visual effect.
Baking times will vary due to the moisture content in the bananas and in the jelly, jam, or preserves used; as well as climates, oven variances, and personal preferences. About forty minutes is the low end but I could envision up to one hour at the high end. I recommend covering the pan with foil midway through baking if your bars seem to be browning quickly, since the sugars in the jelly are prone to caramelizing. My oven here in Aruba runs hot and has a tendency to superficially brown things before the interior cooks through, and baking in humidity compounds the issue, so I covered my pan halfway through baking. Even when they’re done, they’re gooey and dense, and a toothpick test won’t likely come out clean.
After allowing the bars to cool, I made a simple vanilla glaze with melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract. The bars are plenty sweet on their own and don’t need a glaze, but glaze and frosting makes my world go round, so I happily drizzled away.
The bars may be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator. They have the density of a fugdy brownie, which I prefer served chilled, and I like these bars chilled, especially because it’s hot and humid here. But there’s a case to be made for serving them warm, especially in cold weather climates this time of year. Freshly baked, still warm banana bread is one of life’s great pleasures.
The banana flavor dominates, as I find bananas have a tendency to do whenever they’re present, but hints of peach jelly come through as a complementary background flavor.
Between the butter, bananas, yogurt, pudding, and jelly, these bars are dense, thick, and gooey. Nothing light, fluffy, dry, or airy about these. This is comfort-food; aromatic and rich, causing one to go back to the pan to even-out the rows with a fork at 1am, if you know what I mean.
This is melt-in-your-mouth, jelly-filled, drippy-glazed comfort at it’s finest.
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Peach Jelly-Filled Banana Bread Bars with Vanilla Glaze
Ingredients
For the Bars
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted (one stick)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 6 ounces peach, pineapple, or vanilla yogurt (one standard-sized small container, about 3/4 cup. Greek yogurt is ideal, sour cream may be substituted; don't use thin, runny, lite or 'diet' yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 1 ¼ cups mashed ripe bananas, 2 medium bananas
- 3.4- ounce box instant vanilla pudding
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- about 15 teaspoons peach jelly, about 1/3 cup, jam or preserves may be substituted; pineapple, mango, orange or similar flavors may be substituted
For the Vanilla Glaze, optional
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup+ confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the Bars - Preheat oven to 350F, line a 9-by-9-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute. To the melted butter, add the sugars, egg, yogurt, vanilla, and whisk to combine. Add the bananas and stir to incorporate.
- Add the dry pudding mix and stir to incorporate (You are not making pudding; simply add the mix as a dry ingredient. The pudding mix could be replaced with 1 to 2 teaspoons cornstarch, and about 2 to 3 tablespoons flour. Like any dough or batter, there is some flexibility with how to make up for eliminating three ounces of dry mix). Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix or bars will be tougher as the gluten will over-develop. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula.
- Add one teaspoon of jelly at a time to the top surface of bars, creating a surface dotted with little jelly blobs, dispersed randomly over the surface. With a table knife, swirl and marble the jelly through the batter using a zig-zag pattern going up-and-back, side-to-side a few times to disperse the jelly. It doesn't matter if the swirls are pretty or neat because while baking, it all turns into a golden shade of amber and melts together and you can't see the swirls; they're for taste not visual effect.
- Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, tenting or covering the pan with foil halfway through baking if you judge the bars to be browning a bit fast on top (I cover with foil halfway through because my oven browns things too fast on the surface before the interior cooks through). Bake until top is set and golden, the center is not jiggly, and edges have pulled away slightly from sides of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center will likely not come out completely clean because bars are dense and gooey, both from the bananas and jelly, which may prevent a clean toothpick test. The bars are meant to be gooey and based on moisture content in bananas, yogurt used, oven variance, and personal preference, cooking times could vary from about 40 to 60 minutes. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. While cake cools, make the glaze.
- For the Vanilla Glaze, optional - The bars don't 'need' a glaze as they're moist and sweet on their own, but I prefer it. Melt butter in a small microwave-safe bowl, about 1 minute on high power. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and whisk to combine. Add sugar as needed until desired glaze consistency is reached. Drizzle glaze over the top of bars before slicing and serving; or slice and glaze each piece individually. Unglazed bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days; or store glazed bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Do you have a favorite banana-based recipe? Fan of jelly-filled goodies?
Feel free to link your favorite recipes since my ripe bananas seem to multiply in front of my eyes, and although I freeze them in chunks for smoothie-making, I like cake and bread better than smoothies in the winter.
that looks like the perfect breakfast treat!!!
Oh yes, I am a big fan of jelly-filled goodies, not too much banana though. I love all kinds of jellies, especially spicy (I have to “blame” you for that :) . I made a few days ago spicy muffins and had it with a good spoonful of spicy strawberry-pepper jelly. Was soooo good!
I am trying to decide what to make for Christmas party we are invited to: need something quick and not expensive. Would you advise something?
spicy strawberry-pepper jelly = start selling it; I’ll start buying it!
quick and not expensive – sweet or savory? Nobake or baked? None of my recipes ever has more than about $3 to $5 worth of ingredients, many times much less. More info and I can narrow it down for you…
This looks incredible! My husbands favorite jam, ever, is peach jelly! He will eat the whole jar on toasted english muffins, bread, banana bread, ANY bread so I bet he would LOVE these bars! Plus, the frosted tops? Even though it is just drizzled, it is the perfect amount. Delicious looking, Averie! :-)
Those butterscotch bars you made last night, too??! Good grief. Seriously, waiting for the bar cookbook. It would sell so fast. How many moms want to make bars for dessert because they are easy, family friendly and great for parties at school and potluck sharing. I’m telling ya…I will buy it! ;-)
Trust me, I’ve thought about the bar book :) Maybe one day!
Those browned butter bars are one of my better creations lately. I just loved them!
And if your hubs loves peach jelly, these are right up his alley! I almost just dumped/flooded the whole surface with glaze, but for pics, I wanted a little surface area to show through!
Oh my do these look good! Love the combination of peach and banana, I never thought of that combo! I’m also glad you posted pictures of the strawberry jelly rolls, I totally forgot I want to make them too!!
You are on a roll with the bars this week! Loving it. I think I definitely need to whip up a batch over the weekend.
I never tire of trying different brands and flavors of jam. It is always great to bake with jam. It is also interesting to try recipes hot, room temperature, and cold. Different flavors and textures are accentuated at different temperatures. I’ve never tried a bar like this chilled but I’ll have to give it a go.
It’s amazing that certain things I want screaming hot or freezing cold, i.e. coffee. And with brownies and really dense desserts, I like chilled. With cookies, I want warm. With carrot cake, I want it chilled. With a yellow cake I want room temp. It’s all so variable :) But it’s also 90F and humid here so chilled things sound better!
Whoa, talk about a moist bar! These look insanely delicious. I feel like they’d definitely be one of those things where I’d cut myself a square, then cut myself another sliver, and another, etc. I’ve never have peach jelly… I should probably change this?!
I did plenty of evening out the rows at 1am :) Another sliver, another scrap, whoops the row is crooked…
:)
Banana bread in a bar form?? Nice idea. Might do something like this this weekend!
XO
Marla they are so moist and gooey and just…well, a mess to photograph in this heat but they sure tasted great!
Okay seriously, how do you come up with some of your recipes? Amazing! You are so creative!! These look/sound incredible!
You’re pretty darn creative too there, missy :)
How do you come up with all these recipe ideas girl!? You have something new every day!
Gotta keep the wheel turning – and make use of my over-ripe bananas :)
Oh Man!!! Just when I thought I had finished all of my Holiday baking. Now I will definitely have to add these to the cookie collection. Thanks for sharing Averie.
Another great spin on banana bread! Any of the jelly/jam suggestions sound good…and I bet these hit the spot in Aruba. I loved the butterscotch-caramel bars! Browned butter and dark brown sugar definitely make a good pairing in the base. I usually only have light brown sugar, but I like the dark and might see what else it tastes good in. Hope you are enjoying your time on the island!
They totally hit the spot and so glad you loved the butterscotch-caramel bars! I think dark brown sugar is a great touch for winter/fall heartier flavors and baking. Like any sort of molasses or ginger anything, from breads to cakes, it’s a nice touch!
I love how you roll with these baking fusion-like dishes. Baking fusion is now a thing and you are the pioneeress of it! Seriously, it just makes SENSE: banana bread is DELISH and jelly-filled donuts are the BOMB, why not combine them, right? Right. 100% right. I LOVE this!!
Well there’s only so many ways one can make banana bread and blog about it. If it was just us, I’d probably make…another loaf of plain banana bread. But that gets…boring. So…blogging forces me to step up my game and think creatively. And let’s face it, jelly goes with everything :)
Those strawberry jelly roles look divine! I bet if I made them I would eat the whole batch in one day x)
I love peach jelly too. This bars are like a little slice of heaven!
These look rich, moist, and absolutely lovely. The drizzle of icing on top makes these look decadent and delicate – well done!