Banana Split Bars
It is a cold December day and my three-year-old is bursting with cabin fever. I pulled out my Nana's great big recipe box and searched for my Nana's cure for cabin fever, banana split bars! These bars are simple to make and are a sure pleaser to the frozen treat's fans.
The wind howled and swept under my coat, giving my body a quick freeze as I briskly walked to the mailbox. It is cold outside and I had no intention of staying out longer than needed. My poor little girl starred out the window wishing to build a snowman as I walking back towards the house. Val wanted to play outside so bad but there was no way that I was going to chance her getting sick a week before Christmas. Since baby Belle was asleep I offered a compromise of making something fun for dessert instead of playing outside, she gladly accepted!
Banana Split Bars
What you need for this recipe is:
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Butter 1 Cup Sugar 1 Egg 1 Banana, mashed 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup chopped nuts 2 cups mini marshmallows 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/3 cup marachoino cherries, drained and quartered 1/3 cup crushed pineapple
If you want to make an adult version then soak your cherries in rum for 24 hours or longer.
After I grabbed all the ingredients I thought I was in the clear, but Belle said otherwise. Somebody knew I was trying to bake and decided that she was going to lend a baby hand.
With my two girl's help, we started our baking! First pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then in a mixing bowel blend together your softened butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the banana, egg, and vanilla to the bowl and mix some more.
Then add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir her up and blend her well.
Add the chopped nuts! Nick found a few bags of 2.3 oz chopped walnuts at the store and one bag is the perfect amount! Add your mixture to a greased 13x19- inch pan, I put parchment paper down to make clean up easier since I'm so messy.
Pop her in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. The mixture should have risen quite a bit (see my mess on the parchment paper?)
Now the fun part! Val got to dump the marshmallows on top of our "cake" as she called it. Then top with the chocolate chips, pineapple, and cherries. Look how pretty Val made ours look!
After adding the toppings then put your pan back in the oven for another 15 minutes. When you take it out the toppings will be nice and bubbly with slightly browned marshmallows.
Push a tooth pick in the center of the pan to check if the middle is done, it should come out clean when removed. If there is still some runny mixture on the toothpick then place it back in the oven for about 10 more minutes, recheck again and repeat if necessary. Let it cool in the pan.
Cut your "cake" into bars and enjoy! The marshmallows are sticky so be careful or your bars will end up looking like a big ol' mess, definitely not picture worthy!
I ended up making two batches of these, one for the kids and one for the "big" kids! Val couldn't wait to try one so I let her indulge in one while I made dinner. They were a success according to Val!
**NOTE: In the above picture I forgot to list the flour, you need 2 1/4 C flour to make the banana bread part of the recipe**
